


Nothing But a Helping Hand

by rainbowumbrella



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Brotherly Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Diego Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Diego Hargreeves Needs a Break, F/M, Gen, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Pre-Canon, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Telekinetic Klaus Hargreeves, The Apocalypse, as to avoid too many spoilers, more tags will be added with new chapters!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2020-06-25 22:17:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 53,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19754866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowumbrella/pseuds/rainbowumbrella
Summary: Diego knew it was serious the moment that Eudora showed up at his door. They may have been friends, but if there was one thing that he knew, it was that Eudora never just dropped by. He felt his blood freeze inside his veins, his heart stilling as it waited to hear what was happening.And then she said it.“It’s your brother.”





	1. Until It's Gone

It’d been a long, long night.

Diego hadn’t even had the chance to turn on the police scanner, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t been working - first, there’d been a huge spill in the gym that had taken him well over an hour to clean up, and then there’d been an attempted robbery right across the street that had been a lot more complicated to stop than he’d have expected it to be. He always operated under the guise that people didn’t want to get stabbed and therefore would be very compliant once they realized that he knew his way around his knives and he wasn’t afraid to use them, but sometimes people surprised him.

Maybe they just didn’t believe that he’d actually do anything, or maybe they had nothing left to lose. Diego wasn’t sure, and he told himself that he didn’t care. He did, though. He’d been sitting on his bed for what felt like an eternity trying to work out why that guy hadn’t dropped everything when he threw a knife that just missed him by a quarter of an inch.

The look in his eyes… it’d been painfully familiar.

He was pretty sure that he’d seen it in Klaus’ eyes the last time he’d yelled at him when he got a call from the hospital in the middle of the night saying that his brother had been admitted - it’d been the second time in a month and Diego just hadn’t been able to handle it. How was one supposed to live like that, always fearing that the next call would be from the morgue? That the next time he was pacing around in a waiting room, the doctor would be wearing that unreadable expression in their face as he was told that his brother hadn’t pulled through? It was a recurring nightmare of his, and every time he sat down in one of those chairs he couldn’t help but picture it, and it scared him that he could so easily see it coming true.

It’d been coming to a point where he wasn’t sure he could remember a time in his life when he wasn’t looking out for his brother. How many times hadn’t he missed class or training at the Police Academy because of him? Because he’d needed to bail him out, because of another dreaded call from the hospital, because he’d spent the day trying to get him back to rehab or because he’d spent the night looking for him after he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad had happened? He loved his brother, and he would always look out for him, no matter what, but it was exhausting.

And so yes, maybe he’d gone a little too far that day, but he’d still argue that it was justified. Maybe Klaus had just gone through a lot and he shouldn’t have yelled (but so had he, he’d insisted in a long mental argument with himself later on), and maybe he’d said a few things that he hadn’t meant. He definitely shouldn’t have told Klaus to take him off his emergency contact list. But it wasn’t like his brother would actually do it, right? It was just like every time he asked Diego for a ride - he said no, he was adamant about not driving him anywhere, and yet he always did it. Klaus would know he didn’t mean it.

Maybe he should have checked. He should definitely have checked. But he’d stormed out of the hospital and by the time he’d calmed down, his brother had already been discharged. That was the last time he’d seen him.

He didn’t feel guilty, he told himself. No, he kept having that argument over and over again because… Because he’d never gotten to have it with Klaus. That was it. Nothing else.

Shaking his head at himself, Diego pushed himself off the bed and made his way towards the kitchen. His eyes fell on the police scanner sitting at the table, and his fingers itched to turn it on, but Diego stopped himself with a long sigh. It was late, and he was tired. It was best not to go out. Maybe the next morning, even if it wasn’t exactly the ideal time to play vigilante. Or maybe he’d drop in on Eudora, see if she needed help with anything.

Yes, she always dismissed him. That didn’t mean he never helped.

It was four in the morning already anyway, so he wouldn’t be up until pretty late the next day. Maybe he’d just have a quiet afternoon, leave work for the nighttime.

Yeah, maybe that’d be best. He was exhausted, work was absolutely not going to happen that night. He needed a break, he figured. He’d been going out every night for weeks, and between that and making sure he didn’t lose his job due to - well, never turning up - he never seemed to have any free time. The previous day, he hadn’t made it home until nine in the morning, and by then all he’d been able to do was to collapse on the bed. He’d been asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Funny, he thought to himself. This was usually right around the time that Klaus popped in on him unannounced and with some proposition for a movie night or something along those lines that ended with him begrudgingly getting them the cheesiest chick-flicks he could find at the movie rental (at Klaus’ request) and buying food that he wouldn’t eat in a million years - it was no problem, Klaus somehow always seemed to eat it all - and watching TV into the early hours of the morning.

Diego didn’t like chick-flicks. He never had. But Klaus loved them and somehow the nights were always fun regardless. Maybe it was his brother’s running commentary of the movie, or maybe it was just the fact that he was taking a day off for once.

Half of the time Klaus would be gone when he woke up. Sometimes, he’d leave a little note that said nothing about where he’d gone or whether he was coming back, but which never failed to amuse Diego. But there were times when he’d stay for a while - usually until he crossed a line and Diego kicked him out - and those times were probably the periods of his life when Diego got the least amount of work done, but in the end… In the end he knew he probably needed that.

Huh.

Maybe Klaus had taken everything he’d said a little more seriously than he’d thought.

Diego shook his head at himself and opened the fridge to get some eggs. Just make an omelet and go to bed, he told himself. There was no point in even thinking about this. Klaus would show up at his doorstep sooner or later, as he always did. He was probably closer with the owner of the gym than Diego himself was - he couldn’t count the amount of times he’d seen the two of them chatting. He’d drop by, ask to hang out for a little while, probably crash there for a night or two, then he’d leave with no warning like he always did.

Everything was fine.

He was not worried. He was just going to have his omelet, go to bed, and then wake up, take a shower, have some breakfast and go about his day. Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

Despite his exhaustion, it took Diego about an hour to fall asleep after he turned off the lights.

  


* * *

  


It was a little past midday when Diego woke up.

He got up, took a shower, and it was only when he was halfway through making himself some toast that he remembered the anxiety of the previous night. The tightness in his chest was gone, and he had no trouble sitting down at the table and having his breakfast while catching up on the old paper he’d found on top of his dresser.

He’d just been tired, he figured. Maybe he really did need some rest - he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually fallen asleep before the sun was up. It wasn’t good for him, he knew that, but neither one of his jobs were something that he could do in the morning or afternoon. No, mornings and afternoons were good for doing a bit of investigating, for dropping in on Eudora, but not much else.

The moment he chose this line of work, he bid adieu to his sleep schedule.

But he needed to learn to make himself rest sometimes, he knew that. He’d be no good to anyone if he was exhausted. So that was it, he told himself, he was staying in that day - or afternoon, at least. In the evening he’d still have to mop the floors of the gym, and if he was feeling okay, maybe he’d turn on the scanner for a little while, do some work, but he’d be back before midnight if he could help it. He could use the extra sleep.

The dingy little TV set he’d rescued from the side of the road, surprisingly enough, had terrible reception, though, and try as he might, he could not convince it to work that day. The VCR was actually pretty decent, though - he had absolutely no idea how Klaus had managed that, but when his brother showed up with it under his arm one day, he’d just decided not to ask. The problem was that considering how little he actually used it when Klaus wasn’t there, he’d figured that tapes just weren’t a good investment, and so it sat there unused except for during his brother’s movie nights.

TV in general was out, then.

Time for some boxing, he decided. The gym wouldn’t be as empty as he generally liked it to be, but it’d be empty enough. Maybe he’d even find someone with whom to spar - really, he just wanted to burn some energy. He’d sleep better later if he did, if nothing else.

He’d just changed out of his pajamas and into his training clothes when he heard a knock at the door.

It wasn’t Al coming to complain about the job he’d done yesterday, was it? He’d been thorough, he’d been very thorough. That floor had been sparkling when he’d left it, and it wasn’t his fault if someone else had gone and ruined his good work.

“Come in!” He called, letting out a sigh.

Except it wasn’t Al. No, it was Eudora. And he knew deep in his heart that something had happened, because sure, they might still be friends, but Eudora didn’t just turn up at his house. Eudora never dropped in, she never visited - he hadn’t even known that she knew where he lived these days.

“Eudora.”

She frowned and shook her head, making her way down the stairs. “I’m so sorry, I should have come earlier, but everything has been crazy.”

She was sorry.

But sorry for what? He could feel his stomach sink, and yet he didn’t know why. What was she doing there? What was she talking about?

“Diego?”

It was his turn to frown, carefully controlled panic growing in his chest. “What are you talking about? What happened?”

Surprise was clear on her face, as well as some semblance of horror. His stomach sunk a little more. “I thought - I thought you knew. There’s been so much chatter on the radio since last night, and - “

Diego closed the distance between them, the look on his face deadly serious. He had to know now, he had to know what had happened. He could feel it in his bones that it’d shatter him once he did, but he couldn’t handle being in the dark for another second. The weight of the suspense, the feeling of dread over something that he knew had to be terrible but which was still unknown to him - it was crushing his chest. Every breath was a little more labored than the previous.

“Eudora, what happened?”

“It’s your brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly an introduction chapter, so it's slower than the average chapter - expect a little more story development from now on!
> 
> I was torn between ending in a classic cliffhanger or not, but I kind of wanted to end on the line from the synopsis. I already pretty much know what happened/how things are going to proceed in the near future for the story, but I'd love to hear theories, if anyone wants to share!


	2. Bed & Breakfast

“It’s your brother.”

The words rang through his mind like a never-ending nightmare, like a bell that just kept ringing no matter how much you tried to still its clapper. He didn’t want to believe them. If Eudora was there because of something involving his brother, it had to be serious, and he knew how serious it could be. He could feel a deep-seated fear growing inside of him even as his mind tried to reject the possibility of anything bad having happened at all, especially the worst.

He needed time. He needed time, and he needed to give his brain the chance to refute this completely. So instead of replying to Eudora, he went through a mental checklist.

His brother. That could mean a number of people, right?

It could be Luther.  
No, he was on the moon.

It could be Five.  
No, he was long gone.

It could be Ben.  
No, he was dead.

And he knew that. He knew that all along. He knew it had to be Klaus, but it couldn’t be, could it? Because if something had happened to him, he should have gotten a phone call immediately. And if something did happen, then…

He knew, he just knew that it’d be something big. Klaus never did anything _small_ , did he?

It was a strange feeling, receiving news like that. Diego knew that he was standing at an edge, he was in the line between knowing and not knowing, and the moment he asked Eudora what had happened, there’d be no going back. At that moment, Klaus was very much like that famous cat in that famous box - he was Schrödinger’s Klaus. Until he got that information, from Diego’s perspective, his brother was both dead and alive, and it might very well be the only way that he’d ever be alive again.

Diego might very well be counting down his seconds.

And it was tempting, it was tempting to just never find out. At the same time that his mind was screaming for answers, there was a little part of him that just didn’t want to know. It just wanted to come up with its own version of events and carry on. It was a ridiculous thought, but such a nice one compared to the alternative.

Some corner of his mind was already imagining what the funeral would be like. His siblings would never forgive him, would they? He’d never forgive himself. Some part of him already blamed their last conversation for Klaus’ hypothetical death.

But he was getting ahead of himself, wasn’t he? Just breathe.

Maybe Klaus was okay. Maybe he’d just done something monumentally stupid but not quite lethal and Eudora was there because she knew that he’d be upset. Maybe everything was fine, and even if it wasn’t, maybe everything _could_ be fine again.

“Klaus?” He finally asked, and he was surprised to find that his voice wasn’t hoarse. It was just quiet, as if this were dreaded but expected.

In a way, he supposed that it was.

Expect it as he might, though, he was never ready for this.

Eudora nodded. Diego waited for her to speak again, but she was quiet, just looking at him with such a soft expression that he had to imagine the worst had happened. He was pretty sure that he could count the times he’d seen that look on her face with a single hand.

He wished that she’d say something. She was giving him time to process, he knew that, she was trying to break it to him gently, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like being treated as something fragile that might break, especially not when he felt like he was already shattering. Part of him wanted someone to finish the job. He didn’t want to deal the final blow on himself.

In the end, though, he supposed he had no choice.

“What happened?”

It was only then that Diego realized that she was hesitant. She wasn’t just giving him space, she didn’t want to tell him. She’d gone in thinking he already knew, and now she’d have to break it to him. It couldn’t be easy. For a moment, he was sorry for her. But then her words began to be processed by his brain, and everything else was immediately placed in the back burner.

“He… He came into the precinct last morning. He was saying something about - about wanting to help with something. A case. I didn’t really get a lot of what he was saying, none of it made much sense. I should’ve… I should’ve taken a statement, at least, but he was high and I - I don’t know. I thought he might get himself into trouble. You know how he is.” There was a pause, and Diego could feel his heart stopping with her story. He wanted to push her to keep going, but his mouth seemed to have forgotten how to form words, so he waited on the edge of panic. “He was… He was adamant about how important it was, though, so I told him I’d meet with him later. I thought maybe I could bring him by or - or maybe get him to check into rehab. But he wasn’t there.”

She stopped, and for a blissful moment, Diego thought maybe that was it.

His brother not turning up to something was far from new. Klaus was neither punctual nor very big on commitment - he never had been, not even when they were children. If there was someone they could count on being late despite their father’s constant lectures on the importance of punctuality, it was Klaus.

Maybe he’d forgotten about it. Maybe he’d lost track of time, or maybe he was passed out in some alley like Diego had found him far too many times.

But then Eudora continued.

“I didn’t think much of it at first, but he was so worked up about this before that I - I thought I owed it to him to be thorough. So I put out an APB, I said he was an informant that never showed up to a meeting. _Technically_ not a lie.” She raised a finger, as if to stop Diego from objecting, but quickly lowered it, as if suddenly remembering that this wasn’t just any case. “Some officers from another precinct found him a few hours later. He’s in the hospital, Diego, and… Last I heard, he wasn’t doing so well. They should have called you, I don’t know why - ”

She was cut off by Diego, who let out a sigh and shook his head at himself. “I told him to take me off his emergency contact list. I didn’t think he’d do it, I - dammit, I can’t believe this was the one time he actually listened to me.”

The soft look on her face, as if silently trying to comfort him, only made him break a little more. The hand on his shoulder had him biting back tears.

She’d been with him through a few of Klaus’ hospital stays, and so he knew that she was very much aware of what their standards for ‘not doing so well’ were. They’d both seen Klaus shrug off things that all logic dictated he should not be able to shrug off, they’d seen him astonish doctors with his ability to - sometimes inexplicably - bounce back. If he was not doing so well…

For a brief moment, Diego was glad that his powers included being able to hold his breath indefinitely, because he couldn’t seem to remember how one was supposed to breathe.  
“Come on.” Eudora finally said, adding a bit of pressure to the hand on his back in an attempt to lead him somewhere. He was pretty sure the destination was meant to be obvious, but he was too busy remembering how to make his legs move. “I’ve got the cruiser upstairs, I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Diego nodded.

It was only when they were halfway out of the gym that the fog that set over his head seemed to begin to lift, and he slowly started to process what he’d been told in a little more depth. Klaus was in the hospital, and he wasn’t doing too well. That didn’t tell him much, though, did it? How was he not doing too well? What had happened? His brother had a way of getting himself into trouble, so the possibilities were endless.

“W-w-w - “ Diego took a deep breath and paused, his mother’s words filling his head once again. _Picture the word you want to say in your mind_. “What happened?”

Eudora shook her head. “I don’t know, they wouldn’t tell me much. Not without a warrant. All I know is that the officers found him passed out in an alley, which is not exactly unusual for Klaus. I dropped by the hospital but they wouldn’t let me see him. All they could tell me was that he wasn’t stable yet, but that was this morning. They found him… Must’ve been around dawn.”

His brother had been in the hospital for hours and he hadn’t even known about it.

He’d been having dinner while officers searched the streets for Klaus. He’d been asleep while his brother fought for his life in the hospital. If he’d only turned on the scanner… He could probably have found him far more easily than some officers who’d never met him before.

There was a part of him that tried to remind him that it wasn’t his fault. That he couldn’t have known, that his life didn’t have to orbit around his brother like sometimes it seemed to - he couldn’t know where he was all times, he couldn’t worry about him at all times. The best he could do was to try and get Klaus to check in with him ever so often, but even that never worked. Klaus was Klaus, and he’d come and go as he pleased. Diego had long since learned that there was no point in fighting that.

The rest of the trip was quiet, though Diego could see Eudora fidgeting through the corner of his eye, as if she were just barely stopping herself from saying something. He was grateful for it, though - he wasn’t sure that he could handle a conversation at that moment.

He’d figured that she would drop him off and go back to work, but instead Eudora led him inside and took over, speaking to the woman at reception - her words sounded out of focus, somehow, and he’d never really known the term could apply to sounds before - and then leading him into an elevator. He wasn’t sure where they were going, but the buttons had labels on them, and the one she pressed was not labeled ‘morgue’. That was good enough for him.

“Diego.” Her tone was gentle, and he once again found her hand on his shoulder.

He’d been through this so many times by himself, he knew that he could handle it. He’d once rushed into the hospital with knives still in hand and he’d had to deal with security on top of everything - he knew that the only reason he’d sunk into the background was because someone else was there to handle it for him. Someone he trusted. He should probably tell her that she could go, he figured. But he was scared, guilt was still crushing him, and he was so grateful to have someone by his side. He didn’t want her to go.

“Diego, they said he’s stable now, and he’s awake. You can go see him.”

At some point, they’d arrived in the corridor. He wasn’t sure when that was, but it didn’t matter, for he’d just remembered something. The lady at reception had said the words ‘room 394’. That was all he really needed to know. Soon enough, he was barreling down the corridor, rushing past nurses who clearly were already used to this and past unsuspecting visitors. His eyes locked in on the room labeled ‘394’ and he threw the door open without bothering to knock.

If he’d been a little less… He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling at that moment, he’d probably have felt bad.

Klaus clearly had not been expecting visitors, much less ones who made such a loud and sudden entrance, and he nearly jumped out of the bed - the IV lines that were hooked to him were half jerked free from his arm, and Diego could see a trickle of blood begin to run from the entry point. That was… Not good.

A loud, rapid beeping filled the room, and it took Diego a full five seconds and Klaus’ hand over his chest to realize that it was the heart monitor they had his brother on.

That was enough to make him feel a sliver of guilt. All of this was probably a little too much stress on his recovering brother. Sometimes he forgot how skittish he could be - if he were to be honest, he’d have to admit that he didn’t always believe that he could be that jumpy, especially not considering their upbringing. Klaus had always had a flair for the dramatic, and that easily played into the image of their attention-seeking brother.

There were times, though, when Diego wondered whether it was all really just attention-seeking.

Heart-rate monitors didn’t lie, after all.

“Christ on a cracker, don’t you knock?” Klaus exclaimed, slowly relaxing back onto the bed. The machine beside him was still beeping rapidly, but it seemed to be calming down.

That eased Diego’s guilt a little.

“I’ll make you a deal, I’ll start knocking when you stop acting like the hospital is some kind of bed and breakfast.” Diego retorted, arms crossing over his chest.

There was a flash of something that looked almost like guilt on Klaus’ face, but it was quickly replaced by a joking smirk. “ _Like_ it’s some kind of bed and breakfast?” He raised an eyebrow, and Diego just knew that the next words that came out of his mouth would make him want to punch him. “Bed.” Klaus gestured towards the bed he was laying on. “Breakfast.” He lifted up a little jell-o pot that was resting on his bedside table - the lid was a little wrinkled, and Diego wondered whether he’d been trying to eat it before he got there. If he had, then the fact that he hadn’t managed to get the cover off was probably not a good sign.

But that thought was quickly shoved aside, irritation replacing it almost immediately. Diego crossed the room, planting himself beside his brother, one finger wagging in the air like he was getting read to scold a toddler. Sometimes, he felt like he was.

“You - “ Words escaped him for a moment, and under different circumstances, the way his brother shrunk back in his bed might have told him that this wasn’t the moment to pick a fight. He might have remembered how the last one went down. But he was scared. He was scared and angry and more frustrated than he could ever remember being because this time seemed far more touch-and-go than any other had ever been, and Klaus still didn’t care.

He never cared.

Why, why did he never care?

“You think this is funny? Y-you think this is all just… One big joke? What, do you think you’re invincible, Klaus? Do you think that just because you’ve bounced back all these times, you - you always will?” He paused for a second, waiting for Klaus to chime in, but for what he was sure was one of the first times in his life, his brother was silent. “You think you can keep dragging us here? Putting us through all this? You - you think you can just take this for granted?”

Silence fell heavy over the room as Diego panted, exhausted.

For a moment, he thought this would be it, that Klaus would concede or at least not argue, but then a few muttered words reached Diego’s ears, and his heart fell.

“I didn’t ask you to come.”

They were so soft that he thought - _he hoped_ \- he might have misheard them.

“What?”

“I said I didn’t ask you to come.”

Diego’s first instinct was to just leave. To say that he was right, he hadn’t, and that if it was like this, then fine, he was leaving. But he knew Klaus, he knew that his brother would just let him go and sink deeper into…

If he were to be honest, he’d have to admit that he didn’t know what he’d sink deeper into. He didn’t really know what was going on with Klaus now. HIs brother was one of the single chattiest people Diego had ever met, he was friendly and outgoing and at first glance, he was an open book. He certainly didn’t seem to have a sense of shame, at least. But then something like this happened, and Diego came to the stark realization that he didn’t really know what was going on with him. That for all that Klaus might speak, there was so much that was left unsaid.

Or maybe he just wasn’t listening.

“Dammit, Klaus, you are unbelievable, you know that? Just… Unbelievable.” He shook his head, running a tired hand over his face.

“What, you asked me to take you off my emergency contacts, and I did. What more do you want, Diego? Because if you came here just to yell at me, then just… Go. I’m too tired for that.”

The admission brought a frown to Diego’s face, and he found the words he’d been ready to yell at his brother dying in his throat. It wasn’t that Klaus was one to hide behind bravado, but he had a tendency to just shrug these things off like they didn’t affect him at all. He might complain about a bruised rib or two if he ended up receiving CPR, but it was always jokingly. This… This was serious. Genuine.

“I just want you to stop doing this to yourself.” Diego shook his head, collapsing onto the nearby chair, his head cradled in his hands.

There was a moment of silence, and when Klaus spoke up, his voice was quiet.

“So you heard.”

“Nope. Just guessed. But that confirms it. Klaus, why - ”

“Diego, no - it wasn’t like that.” There was an edge of desperation in his voice, as if he wanted to get in as much as he could before Diego kept on talking, but it went ignored.

“It wasn’t like that? Then how was it, Klaus? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you nearly died _again_. And I was patient the first time, and the second time, but when it starts to become a habit…”

Then he just couldn’t do it. Maybe Klaus could walk away from all of this completely unaffected, but it affected _him_ , and Diego tried to pull away like everyone else seemed to have, but he just didn’t have it in him. He just couldn’t do it. So he tried to help instead. The only problem was that he’d never figured out the answer to the question of how you help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

“It wasn’t me, okay? I swear, I - it wasn’t me.”

Diego frowned.

He’d heard a laundry list of excuses from his brother, from poorly thought out, bordering on nonsensical ones to incredibly complex lies which Diego still sometimes wondered if he’d misjudged or not. But this? This was new. Maybe a panicked reaction, sure, since it seemed to fit nicely into the first category, but still… Something about his brother’s tone made Diego want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Curious, he scooted forward in his seat. “What do you mean, Klaus? What happened?”

“I don’t… I don’t remember.” Diego rolled his eyes, and Klaus sat up on the bed, alarmed. When he spoke again, his voice had a tinge of panic. “No, Diego, please, just - just hear me out. I don’t remember what happened, but I know I wasn’t - I didn’t even have any on me anymore. And I didn’t have any cash, either! I… It’s a long story, but I swear, something must have happened because I - “

Diego raised a hand to cut him off, and Klaus fell silent, fingers nervously playing with his bedsheets.

“You know, I actually thought you were going to be honest with me.”

“It’s the truth, Diego, I - “

“Stop! Just stop, Klaus.” He let out a sigh, running a tired hand over his face. “I came here to make sure you were alright, and you are, so… Goodbye, Klaus.”

As he stood up and started to make his way towards the door, Klaus crawled over to the foot of the bed. “Come on, Diego, please, you have to believe me!”

Diego paused at the door, closed his eyes, then shook his head. No, he wasn’t going to do this, he wasn’t going to get sucked into this again. “ _Goodbye_ , Klaus.”

As he stepped out of the room and moved to close the door, out of the corner of his eye, Diego saw the bathroom door slamming shut. Huh. There must be a draft, he thought to himself, though he hadn’t felt one. Weird. And with that thought, he closed the door behind him, leaning against it and letting out a tired sigh. Sometimes dealing with Klaus was more exhausting than a week of all-nighters.

It was only then that he realized that he’d forgotten to ask Klaus to add him back onto his emergency contacts list. It could wait, he decided. He’d talk to him later, maybe the next morning. At the moment all he wanted was a quiet drive back to his place with Eudora, with the key word there being _quiet_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved hearing your predictions from the last chapter, so if you have any for this one, please feel free to share! I've got less of a prompt question for this one because _spoilers_ , but I'd still love to hear what you guys are picturing!
> 
> This ended up being a lot longer than I was planning, but it might become the standard for the next chapters, we'll see.


	3. Mystery Cookies

It was in moments like this (and moments when she spent the night looking for the pain the ass that was his brother) that Diego couldn’t help but think that he must have done something right in his life to have gotten to have Eudora Patch in it.

Instead of driving him back home, she’d taken him to his favorite café, the one he’d showed her one night after they’d spent the better part of the evening cramming for a test early the next morning, and they’d both needed some coffee and some sugar. He wasn’t hungry per se, but the idea of a nice muffin and a coffee seemed like pretty much the most amazing thing in the world at the moment. He could use the break.

They sat quietly for the better part of ten minutes, but Diego could tell that Eudora wanted to talk. He’d known her for long enough that he was familiar with most of body language - that eye roll that meant ‘I’m very fond of you, you idiot’ versus the one that meant ‘if you don’t shut up in the next five seconds, I’m leaving’, or the way she crossed her arms when she was thinking but never when she was angry. At the moment, she was softly tapping her fingers on the table, and that was a trademark ‘I want to talk but I’m giving you space’ Eudora tell.

So once he’d finished his coffee and moved on to nibbling on his muffin, Diego turned his attention to her. “Okay, spill.” He said, leaning back on his chair.

She didn’t even look surprised, and that had Diego suppressing a smirk. She always insisted he was just an occasional pain in her ass, but the truth was that he knew her and she knew that he did. She knew him, too, or she wouldn’t have taken him there.

”What did he say? I saw your face when you left, and…” She shook her head.

Diego breathed out a sigh. “He says it wasn’t him. That he doesn’t remember what happened, but that it can’t have been him.”

“Well, I - if he comes down to the station and files a report, I can investigate. I’ll take a look at where they found him, maybe there’s some security cameras, they might have caught something, or - “

“Eudora, Eudora - “ He sighed again, shaking his head. “There’s nothing to report. You’re talking about the same guy who once ran away from rehab and showed up on my doorstep telling me they discharged him when I was literally on the phone with them. He’s lying.”

Silence fell upon them for a few minutes, Diego nibbling absentmindedly on his muffin while Eudora tilted her chair back, arms crossed over her chest, brows slightly furrowed. She was thinking, Diego figured, though he didn’t really see what was there to think about. Klaus was lying, and it was far from the first time. He was disappointed, sure, but definitely not surprised.

“What if he isn’t?” Eudora finally spoke up.

Diego frowned, leaning forward on the table.

“He came to the station yesterday, right? He wanted to help with a case. Maybe someone had a problem with that. Maybe that’s our mystery attacker.” Eudora held his gaze for a while, but she must have noticed he was unconvinced, for she let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. “Come on, don’t you think he could’ve come up with something a little better than ‘I don’t remember’ if he was lying?”

That got a chuckle out of Diego. “Really? Klaus’ creativity comes and goes. Honestly, I’ve heard stories that belonged in a book, and then there’s the ‘dog ate my homework’ material. He didn’t think I was coming, he was… Caught off guard.” He shrugged.

Eudora, however, was not convinced. He supposed he should have seen that coming - she was like a dog with a bone when she had a hunch about something. It was one of the things he admired about her, even if it could be absolutely infuriating at times.

“No. I’m telling you, Diego, the timing of this… It’s too much of a coincidence.”

“So you think that it’s more likely that my brother not only actually knew something about a case, but someone tried to kill him over that, than that he ODed and lied about it? Come on, Eudora, he pulls this stuff all the time.”

She shook her head and stood up from her seat, placing a few dollar bills down on the table. “Think about it, Diego.”

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I’ve gotta get back to work. I told you, things are crazy back there. The food is on me. Just… Think about it, Diego.”

And with that, she headed out the door, leaving a tired and slightly confused Diego behind. He had a sinking feeling that she hadn’t just left because she was needed down at the station, though whether it’d been her frustration with him or something else entirely that had driven her away, Diego had no idea.

  


* * *

  


Eudora’s theory was crazy, right?

Diego had started mulling over the question the moment she walked out the door, and he’d continued through the walk back to the gym, through putting on his training clothes and now through every punch that landed on the bag.

_Jab, jab, cross._

It had to be, right? Even if he assumed that Klaus really did have some information on a case, how would anyone have known that he was going to say something? And even if they did, why just leave him in an alley, why not make sure they finished the job? And why do it like that, when there were so many other, more effective ways?

_Jab, cross, hook, cross._

As much as he hated to admit it, Diego knew the answer to most of those questions.

Would he have been surprised to find his brother dead from an overdose in an alley somewhere? No, not at all. He’d have been heartbroken, but he’d never have suspected a thing. Klaus had been in rehab and in the hospital enough times that he doubted anyone would ever look into it. Not himself, not a single one of his siblings, no one.

Klaus had all but told him that something was wrong and he’d accused him of lying.

It was the perfect cover, he supposed. Not that he was sold on that theory, not yet. Klaus had lied to him too many times, let him down too many times, for him to put all that much faith in his story. Eudora hadn’t been there for the worst ones, for all the times Klaus had borrowed money from him for rehab and then never checked in, for all the times he’d claimed to be talking to Ben when they all knew that he hadn’t been able to conjure anyone in a long time. He loved his brother, and he’d protect him with his life, but it was hard to trust him sometimes.

He’d gotten hurt too many times. They all had, he supposed.

But then again…

What if Eudora was right? What if there was someone out there who’d tried to kill Klaus and failed? What was to stop them from coming back and finishing the job?

_Jab, jab, cross._  
Jab, cross, left hook.  
Jab, cross, hook, cross. 

He was panting, sweat dripping down his face, and he closed his eyes. He could see it, he could see his brother, scared like all those times he’d found him hiding in a little corner of the house, crying about ghosts that he said were following him. And he could see someone - someone who in his head resembled his father a little too much to be a coincidence - cornering him, finishing him off with one jab of a needle that for once Klaus absolutely did not want.

He could see his brother’s face staring up at him, lifeless as Ben’s that fateful day, and suddenly that coffee and muffin didn’t sit too well in his stomach.

Dammit, he should never have left.

The clock on the far end of the gym told him that it was 7pm. Visiting hours were over at the hospital. But he was family, and the staff were bound to know him after all the time he’d spent there with Klaus. Maybe he could get away with a little after-hours visit even after having been removed from his brother’s emergency contacts.

He’d take a quick shower, he decided, then he’d pop by the hospital.

  


* * *

  


The lady at reception was new, but one of the night nurses, a man with whom Klaus always seemed to hit it off, recognized him and told him to go on ahead. His brother seemed to have been alone the whole day, the guy had told him, aside from snippets of a one-sided conversation he’d caught when walking by the room a few times, and he’d been worried. He’d tried to talk to him, ask him what was going on and where Diego had gotten off to, but Klaus had only deflected. And he was good at that, Diego knew that all too well.

Nodding awkwardly and mumbling something about being busy, he started off towards the elevator, only turning around once the nurse was out of view. Funny, how guilt could take the words right out of his mouth and spill them out as half-uttered apologies and lame excuses.

The one time Klaus might need him the most was the one time he’d decided not to be there for him. If something had happened, he’d never forgive himself for that.

Diego hardly remembered the path to his brother’s room, so it took him some wandering around the corridors - now mostly empty, save for the occasional nurse or doctor that rushed past him - before he spotted the ‘394’ plaque nailed to a half-open door. He was about to knock and make his way in when something made him hesitate.

“How are the puppies?”

Diego could hear his brother’s voice from inside the room. He knew he should knock, or come back in a few minutes, but curiosity got the best of him and he hung back, waiting for the conversation to be over.

“Oh, they’re growing strong! I’m giving one away to my grandmother - “

“Right, right, how’s she doing? How are those kidney stones of hers?”

“Oh, they passed without any complications, thank goodness. She’s alright, she swears she can handle a puppy, so… Anyway, I’m giving her one, but there’s still two little buggers who need a home.”

“You know, my sister might like a puppy. She’s all the way in LA now, though. And - nah, Diego’s place has way too many knives for a little puppy. Maybe… Vanya? I don’t know, not really sure where she’s off to these days.”

“Well, let me know if you think of anyone. Oh, my grandmother wanted to know if you’re up for tea on Friday.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course! Tell her I’ll make those cookies she loved so much last time.”

He could see a woman waving at his brother, and a few moments later she left the room, smiling. Jocelyn, the name tag read. Jocelyn the nurse. Jocelyn the nurse whose grandmother was apparently friends with Klaus. That… Diego wasn’t quite sure how to wrap his mind around that. Then again, he wasn’t sure how his brother managed to be so much of a mess and still be so damn _friendly_ with everyone. Not that he didn’t know how to be a grade-A asshole when he thought the occasion called for it.

So after knocking on the door and stepping into the room, Diego’s first question naturally had to be about that conversation.

“You’re friends with the nurse’s grandmother?”

Klaus didn’t reply, he didn’t so much as look up at Diego. That sent a pang of guilt to Diego’s heart that almost made him wince. He was used to his brother just brushing off their spats, but he supposed that maybe this time he’d gone a little too far. Maybe this time Klaus really hadn’t been lying. He wasn’t happy over being called out on his lies, but he didn’t usually make too big a deal of it, either.

This time he’d really hurt him, hadn’t he?

“Really, you’re gonna give me the silent treatment? That’s a little childish, don’t you think?”

_Nothing._

Diego sighed, pulling up a chair to sit by his brother’s bedside. He looked nothing like the chipper Klaus that he’d heard through the door, so he knew that it wasn’t just that he was in a mood. It was personal. At least, Diego thought to himself, he wasn’t kicking him out. He had a chance to fix this, Klaus was _giving_ him a chance to fix this. Hopefully he wouldn’t screw it up.

“Okay, fine. I’ll play. Klaus, I - I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have - “ Diego let out a sigh. Why was it always so much easier to yell at someone than it was to apologize? “I believe you, okay? I believe you.”

Silence.

Diego was about to open his mouth to say something else - what, he wasn’t sure, but clearly he hadn’t apologized sufficiently and he’d have to figure something out - when he was interrupted by a tired-sounding Klaus.

“Mrs. Wiltshire.”

Diego raised an eyebrow at him, and he could swear he saw the corners of Klaus’ mouth perk up a little. Good, he was making progress.

“Jocelyn’s grandmother. We shared a hospital room a few months ago, and she invited me for tea and scones when I was discharged. I drop by sometimes. She’s so lonely since her husband died, and the kids moved away, you know? Jocelyn is the only family still around.”

“And you bake her cookies? Since when do you bake?” The thought of his brother baking was somewhat alarming. He could hardly picture Klaus successfully (and safely) handling anything too sharp, but operating an oven? It seemed like a recipe for disaster. Then again, he had to admit that Klaus surprised him on occasion.

“Oh, come on, Diego, you know I bake! How else would I have left you those cookies?”

Those cookies? What cookies was Klaus talking about? And then he remembered. It must have been a year or so ago, he’d woken up to find a tray of freshly baked cookies waiting for him in the kitchen. At first, he’d thought that it might be Eudora, but she wasn’t one to drop by, especially not unannounced, and really, she wasn’t much for cute gestures. His list of suspects ended there, and he’d never managed to crack that mystery. Until now.

“Wait, you left those cookies?”

“Of course! Who else would it have been? The cookie fairy?” The look on his brother’s face suggested that he honestly didn’t see what was so crazy about this, and Diego shook his head. He would never understand Klaus.

“I don’t know! Someone trying to poison me? I threw them out!”

“You threw out my cookies?” Maybe, Diego thought to himself, he shouldn’t have said that. Klaus looked genuinely hurt.

“Of course! What the hell were you even thinking?” _Nice. Way to soften the blow._

“I dropped by and you were asleep, I got bored. I thought you’d like some cookies.”

Of course. Of course Klaus would consider dropping by his place in the middle of the night something perfectly normal, and sticking around while he was asleep and didn’t even know he was there also something perfectly acceptable. And the solution to his boredom? Baking cookies. It was so absurd that somehow Diego found himself surprised by the fact that he hadn’t seen it before. It had Klaus written all over it.

“And then you just left?”

“Well… Yeah. I got tired of waiting.”

Of course. He could wait for the cookies to bake - hell, he’d probably gone out and gotten the ingredients himself, because Diego didn’t bake and those were _chocolate chip_ cookies. He could do all of that, but he couldn’t wait for his brother to wake up. “You’re unbelievable.” He shook his head, eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“Why, thank you.” Klaus placed a hand over his heart dramatically, smiling at his brother.

Diego shook his head once more. His brother truly was a piece of work. And dammit, he couldn’t imagine a world where he didn’t wake up to random cookies in his kitchen, so if he was telling the truth, and Diego was really starting to think that he was, then they had to figure this out and soon. He doubted that anyone who went through all that trouble to get Klaus taken off the board silently wouldn’t follow up on it, and once they found out he’d made it… They wouldn’t be happy.

“Patch says she’ll look into this if you file a report.” Diego said after a moment of silence, his tone having changed from half-exasperated, half-annoyed, to just plain worried.

Klaus raised an eyebrow at him. “The cookies?”

An eye roll attempted to conceal the amused look on Diego’s face, but he could tell from the slight smile on Klaus’ that it probably failed.

“No, the fact that someone tried to kill you.”

“Oh, that.”

Diego wasn’t sure exactly what he’d been expecting. Anger, maybe. After all, if it’d been him, he would be furious. He was _already_ furious. Someone had had the audacity to attempt to kill his brother, and that someone had to pay. Successful or not, the intention had been there. He wouldn’t stand for that.

But Klaus was… Passive. As if Diego had just commented on the light drizzle that had started outside, not on what was probably a rather traumatic experience that he’d just had.

Sometimes he worried about Klaus. No, scratch that. He always worried about Klaus.

“Come on, bro. They tried to kill you. Don’t you wanna… Get them back? We’ve got Patch behind us - she got made Detective a few months back, did you hear about that?”

That got a smile out of Klaus, and Diego almost sighed in relief. “Yeah, I saw she wasn’t in uniform back at the station. Good for her, can’t be easy to get any work done with you always hanging around.” There was a teasing smirk on his lips, and Diego rolled his eyes.

“You watch your mouth, you hear me?”

Apparently, Klaus did not, because he quickly continued, his voice carrying a sing-song tone. “Diego’s in love!”

Diego was biting back a smile, if only because a few minutes ago he’d been contemplating the possibility of spending the rest of his life without that little pain in the ass, and he raised his hands in defeat, already moving to stand up. “Alright, fine, I’ll go and tell Patch you’re not interested.”

It was only when his hand was already on the doorknob that Klaus gave it up, slumping towards the door with his arms held out theatrically. “No, Diego, come back!”

Rolling his eyes - though he was also taking his time turning around so that his brother wouldn’t see the smile on his lips - Diego took his hand off the doorknob and made his way back to his chair. This would be a nice, brotherly moment, he supposed, if they weren’t in the hospital after Klaus nearly died and discussing how they were going to handle the fact that someone had tried to kill him. But nothing in their lives was ever simple, was it?

“So, are you gonna file that report?” Diego asked.

“What, are you crazy? This wasn’t some - some random thing. This was premeditated. I’m just gonna paint a bigger target on my back like that!”

If Patch were there, she would argue that they could be discreet about it, that they were ready to offer him protection and that he’d be safer like that than he would be wandering the streets or even crashing on Diego’s couch. She’d point out that it was like that that they would get a conviction in court, and that if he was worried about the target on his back - well, it was clearly already pretty huge, it wasn’t getting much larger.

But Patch was not there. Diego was.

“Good. Then we’re doing this my way. Come on, I’m getting you out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will every chapter have a mini-flashback? Probably. I hope you guys enjoy them, because I love writing them!


	4. Paintball Drills

“Woah, woah, woah, pull the brakes there, Diego.”

Diego had already been halfway to the door when Klaus’ words reached his ears, and let out a sigh. He’d really been hoping this would be easy, but it was starting to sound like his brother might not make it so easy. Great, he thought to himself, that was just what they needed, to give whoever had it out for Klaus more time to find them in this very obvious location. What could possibly go wrong?

“What?” He asked as he turned around, opening his arms in a frustrated gesture, his tone conveying every ounce of annoyance that he felt.

To his credit, Klaus was at least sitting up in bed, edging his way out of the bed. “What do you mean, get me out of here? You know I’m not a prisoner in the hospital, right? I can leave any time I want.”

“Then what are you still doing here? I’ve never seen you stay any longer than you had to.” Once, Diego remembered, he’d nearly tied Klaus down to the bed when he’d attempted to leave against his doctor’s best judgement. In the end, he’d managed to bribe him with a plush unicorn from the gift store - it was giant and colorful, its rainbow hair had been full of glitter, and it was the single most impractical item in the whole store. Diego had thought of Klaus the moment he set eyes on it, and his brother had absolutely loved it. He’d named it, though the name was long forgotten.

Klaus shrugged. “Well, you know, the food was good and it looked like it was going to rain so I figured I’d stay here.”

No one, not even Klaus, Diego figured, could possibly find hospital food good. Granted, he could just mean that it was food and food wasn’t that easy to come by when you didn’t have a penny to your name, but he’d never seen his brother stay in the hospital for that. Besides, he’d been outside not too long ago, and the skies had been clear. The rain came as a complete surprise. Those were his first clues.

And then he remembered. He remembered the jell-o’s wrinkled ‘pull to open’ lid, he remembered his brother’s admission that he was too tired to deal with being yelled at. Something was wrong, wasn’t it?

Concern flooded him, hitting him like a freight train. No matter what he was put through, what he put _himself_ through, Klaus always seemed to be alright. Diego worried, he was terrified of losing him one day, but he always pulled through, he never any worse for the wear, at least not physically. At most he lost weight - he never even seemed to get sick. And yet this time, he was staying at the hospital of his own volition.

Diego sat back down on his chair, frowning.

“What happened, Klaus?” He asked, though if he were to be honest, he’d have to admit that he wasn’t really expecting a reply.

There was a moment of silence, and when Klaus spoke, his voice carried a hint of hesitation. “They said it was laced with something. I don’t know what, I didn’t… I didn’t recognize the name.” He shook his head, one hand running over his face. “Whatever it was, it - wow, it really knocked me on my ass.”

Diego nodded, brows still creased in concern. He’d never seen something his brother couldn’t just shrug off - if that broken jaw of his hadn’t been wired shut, Diego was sure that he’d have just carried on with life as if nothing had happened, never mind how much it must have hurt. “Are they giving you something for it?” He asked. If they were, there was no way that he’d pull his brother away from the hospital. He’d just have to figure something out.

Klaus shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Just… Fluids and all that.” He waved a hand dismissively.

Unconvinced, Diego started examining the bags hooked up to his brother, and when they provided little answers - at least none that he understood - he moved on to the chart at the foot of his brother’s bed. There was a little note about restrictions on painkillers, but aside from that, there was little that actually made sense for him. For all the training they’d received, including on first aid, their father had never deemed it important that they know how to read a medical chart. They had Mom for that, he supposed, and their father had never cared about what happened to them once they were out in the world. He’d never cared, or he’d never wanted them to leave.

Defeated, Diego slumped back down on his chair, fingers drumming anxiously on the arm of the chair as he thought.

Klaus _seemed_ fine. His heart rate was steady, the heart monitor was making no obnoxious and alarming sounds, he was awake and fully alert - he just seemed tired. And really, it shouldn’t come as surprise that he was tired, right? He’d almost died not too long ago.

In the hospital, they were exposed. Even if he convinced Klaus to let him bring Patch into this, a police detail would just paint giant arrows pointing at his brother. He knew what Eudora would say, he knew that she would argue that it’d be okay because no one would get past them, because there’d be guards at the door 24/7 and no one would get into the room without them knowing, but Diego didn’t trust that. He wasn’t about to put his brother’s life in someone else’s hands.

“Come on.” He finally decided. “Look, you’re just - you’re a sitting duck here. We’ll take you back to my place, and then we can start thinking strategy. What do you say?”

Klaus seemed hesitant, and Diego felt a pang of guilt once again. The one time his brother wanted to stay in the hospital, he was pulling him away from it. But they didn’t have time for that, they didn’t have time for guilt or for contemplating the irony of the situation - it’d been hours already. Whoever it was that had been after his brother was bound to be coming for him soon.

Maybe they were counting on this, on Klaus being worse for the wear and on no one believing his story. If they were, then they’d be at the hospital soon, there was no doubt about it.

“Fine. Fine.” Klaus agreed, letting out a sigh and throwing his hands up in surrender. “But on one condition - I wanna stop by for dinner first. I’m starving.”

Diego raised an eyebrow at him. “You realize I’m the one saving your life here, right?”

Klaus shrugged.

A sigh escaped Diego’s lips, and he nodded, rolling his eyes. “Fine. We’ll stop by for dinner. But hey, what happened to the food here being good?”

Diego expected to have his brother made with that, but Klaus smiled instead, flinging his legs off the edge of the bed as he ripped out the IVs in his arm. Diego had to close his eyes to fight a wave of dizziness and nausea. When he opened them again, the needles were hidden under the bedsheets - whether that was purposeful or not, he wasn’t sure, but he was thankful for it anyway - and he breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, I meant the little jell-o packs. Delicious. But that’s hardly what I’d call a meal, so let’s go get some actual food in us!”

For a moment, Klaus’ gaze flickered elsewhere, and he stuck his tongue out in that direction. Diego raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t question it. He never did, not anymore.

Klaus took his time changing out of the hospital gown - long enough that if Diego hadn’t been able to hear his brother inside, he’d have thought he might have left out the window. When he stepped out, his previously tousled hair was less messy - or rather, more purposefully messy and less chaotically so - and his makeup had been partially redone And that, he supposed, was what had taken him the better part of half an hour.

As they walked through the corridors, Diego watched his brother carefully, knowing that there was every chance that there was more to his desire to stay at the hospital than he’d let on. He seemed to have a spring in his step, clearly happy that he’d gotten Diego to agree to getting him dinner, and at first glance, he seemed perfectly alright. Tired, there were bags under his eyes that were now poorly concealed by makeup - knowing his brother, they’d probably looked a lot better the previous night - but alright.

And yet Diego didn’t believe it.

Sure, he had a spring in his step, a smile on his face, and he was happily greeting every member of the hospital staff in his usual warm manner, but he was dragging behind a little, and every once in a while Diego was sure he caught him pausing briefly to catch his breath. He resumed walking the moment he noticed his brother looking at him, the smile still in place, but Diego remained unconvinced.

At reception, they went through the all too familiar motions of getting the discharge papers and the acknowledgements that Klaus was leaving against his doctor’s advice. It didn’t take long, though, and soon enough they were standing outside, where the drizzle had turned into a proper shower that was quickly working to soak them from head to toe. Huh. He probably should have thought about that, he realized, maybe stopped by the gift shop and gotten Klaus an umbrella - Diego himself didn’t really use them anymore, not for a long time. Just the sight of them was enough to give him an uneasy feeling. The tattoo on his wrist remained covered at nearly all times, and he’d thought about having it removed, but he never seemed to make it further than a couple of steps into the tattoo parlor.

Klaus didn’t seem too bothered by the rain, though, just brushing some hair off his forehead and crossing his arms over his chest. He was used to it, Diego realized, and he didn’t even question the absence of an umbrella.

They were just a few blocks away from the gym, and the day wasn’t too cold. They could walk there and grab Diego’s car - it was better than sticking around the hospital any longer, it had to be. It was hard to shake the feeling that they’d been lucky thus far, but that their luck could run out at any moment. They had to be smart about this. Whoever they were up against certainly was.

“C’mon, my car is back at the gym.” Diego said as he started to make his way back home. “We can grab it and go wherever you want to - hey!”

In the ten seconds Diego had looked away, Klaus had managed to snatch a cigarette from his pocket and was in the process of trying to light it, which wasn’t easy under the pouring rain. Klaus’ only response was to raise an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“At least wait until we’re far from the hospital, come on.” The frustration in Diego’s voice was palpable, but it just earned him an eye roll from Klaus, who tried his lighter a few more time before finally giving up and pocketing it, as well as the now soggy cigarette.

“It helps to keep me warm!” Klaus argued, crossing his arms over his chest once again. “It’s freezing out here!”

Diego rolled his eyes. “It’s not that cold.”

“Of course _you’d_ say that. You’re covered in leather! _Some_ of us have a little more style than that.” Klaus gestured to his own outfit, which consisted of skinny black jeans, a glittery pink top, and matching pink glittery Doc Martens. The coat he was wearing, the same faux fur he’d seen on him dozens of times before, hardly looked appropriate for the weather - it was no wonder he was freezing.

“My car has a heater, and we could be halfway there already. Come on.” Diego gestured for Klaus to follow him, and his brother, even if grumbling something he couldn’t quite make out, did.

  


* * *

  


By the time Klaus settled on a place to eat, Diego was fairly sure they could already have been back at his place, bellies full and happy, planning how they were going to deal with the situation. No matter how many times Diego reminded him of the fact that he’d nearly been killed just a few hours ago, his brother didn’t seem to grasp - or care about, perhaps - the gravity of the situation, and simply continued to throw ideas of foods and restaurants around, only to decide against them whenever Diego tried to convince him of something. Eventually, he’d just started to drive around, and he’d pulled up in front of the first place his brother impulsively suggested.

Klaus seemed perfectly content with it, and Diego came to the sudden realization that they’d wasted over half an hour on a discussion that could have been settled in five minutes.

It was a little Mexican place that Diego had only ever been to once, one that just a few blocks away from the gym but which had a way of blending into the background that meant Diego tended to forget that it was even there despite the food being good and the price being very reasonable.

They sat down and fell onto an easy silence, Klaus being far too distracted with the menu even after he ordered, and Diego’s mind busy running over a million different scenarios. He needed to know more about what Klaus had been about to tell Eudora, but he certainly didn’t want to discuss that there, where anyone could hear them. Where whoever was after Klaus could hear them.

So he just sat there, listening as Klaus rambled on about the menu (‘and they have mini-quesadillas! Do you think they’re better than normal-sized quesadillas, or just for when you’re not that hungry? Uhm, no, you’re right, you’re right. They’re probably for sharing’ - not that Diego was weighing in at all, but Klaus seemed to be doing just fine carrying on the conversation on his own). His eyes were watching their surroundings carefully, ears pricked up for any signs of anything suspicious.

Their food arrived, and Diego began to relax. They’d been there for about half an hour already, and everything seemed fine so far. Maybe Klaus was safe for now. Maybe they’d lost track of him, maybe they didn’t even know he’d survived just yet. Maybe.

And as he slowly began to lower his guard a little, eyes still vigilantly watching his surroundings, ears still pricked up, he found that he was actually starving. it was a good thing that Klaus had ordered enough food to feed a small army - though he was eating voraciously enough that Diego wasn’t entirely sure there’d be anything left to share.

“When was the last time you ate?” Diego asked as he started on his own food, frowning.

Klaus shrugged. “At the hospital. I told you, those little jell-o packs? A hidden gem.”

Diego rolled his eyes, though if he were to be honest he’d have to admit that he wasn’t sure whether his brother was dodging the question or if he genuinely didn’t understand. “I mean a proper meal. A full course.”

“Oh, uh… I wasn’t really feeling up to it at the hospital, so that’d probably be…” He glanced to his side for a moment, and Diego was worried he’d avoid the question entirely, but after a few seconds he finally replied. “Yeah, that must’ve been it. About a week ago.”

Diego shook his head. “Come on, you’ve gotta take better care of yourself.”

“I am taking care of myself!”

“Clearly.” Diego rolled his eyes, let out a long sigh, and just focused on his food. He’d learned a long time ago that there was no point in arguing these points with Klaus, though he’d still try whenever his brother went too far. For now, he was eating, and very well, and that was what mattered. Usually, when Klaus stayed with him, he managed to get him into a slightly healthier lifestyle - he could at least make sure that he ate and stayed hydrated, and that he had a roof over his head when he went to sleep and a warm place to stay when it was cold or a cool place to stay when it was hot. Beyond that… He did what he could, and the fact that it never seemed to be enough tore at him, but there was only so much that he could do. He told himself that every time he stayed by his brother’s bedside at the hospital.

He didn’t even see it when it happened.

The cheese on the nachos had started to cool, and he’d been fighting to free a tortilla chip from the others. He took his eyes off Klaus for all of a half a minute.

When he glanced back up, his brother had an unreadable look in his eyes, and there was a round hole right next to his head on the booth. Even a small fraction of an inch to the left and he’d have been dead.

It took Diego the other half of that second to process this. Then, the Academy training kicked in. “Klaus, get down!” He yelled at his brother, and partly to his surprise, Klaus immediately did, ducking under the table with Diego, the nacho plate held tightly in his hands. At that moment, Diego wasn’t sure whether that was infuriating or worrying, but he supposed that he had time for neither.

Two knives were already in hand, but Diego knew that he didn’t have a target. He’d never had the time to glance back, so all he had was a general direction. It wasn’t enough, he had to know where to throw, how to curve the knife’s path. He’d need to go back up for a quick glance, and that wasn’t going to be easy, which meant it wouldn’t be fast. Great.

“She’s not in the building.” Klaus hurriedly whispered.

Diego frowned. “How do you know? Did you see her?”

Klaus shook his head, though there was a frown in his face that told Diego that there was more to this than his brother was letting on. “Just - just trust me, alright?” Klaus asked him.

Normally, Diego wouldn’t have, especially not when it came to something like this. Klaus might have received the same training, and Diego knew that when they were kids he could fight just as well as any of them, even if his powers were more of a nuisance than helpful in combat. As they grew older, though, he grew more and more unreliable, until none of them really considered him to be an asset to the team.

Something in Klaus’ voice, though, convinced Diego to listen to him.

If the person - the woman, apparently - wasn’t in the building, then there was little point in trying to throw his knifes. They’d probably crack the glass in the windows, and perhaps they’d even make it outside, but they wouldn’t hit their target. He’d just be wasting a perfectly good knife.

And that meant, he supposed, that they had no way of fighting her. It’d be nearly impossible, and certainly far too dangerous, to try to approach her when she had a long-range weapon and they had nothing. Besides, there were civilians there, civilians who seemed concerned, considering the amount of shifting chairs he’d heard since he and Klaus had ducked under the table, but who didn’t seem to be convinced that something was going on just yet. They couldn’t risk any of them getting caught in the crossfire.

Their only option, Diego figured, was to retreat. Retreat and come up with a plan of action - he really needed to understand why this was happening, who that person even was. Clearly, Klaus had stumbled onto something big there. Or maybe not stumbled - how much he did he even know about what was going on in his brother’s life? But now wasn’t the time for that conversation.

“We need to get to my car.” Diego decided, shifting so that he could more easily get out from under the table onto the corridor.

Klaus nodded. “Okay. But how? I can’t cover you, you can’t cover me.”

“We’re just gonna have to be careful. You remember the paintball drills Dad had us do?”

“Yeah. Would’ve been fun if he’d been less of an asshole about it when we got hit.”

“And if he wasn’t training us for something like this.” Diego pointed out, shifting a little closer to the corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of what waited ahead. People seemed to be slowly losing interest in what was going on, and that was bad. He really wished they’d run out the door. “Okay, we’re going to do something like that, alright? Just follow my lead.”

Klaus nodded.

Diego took a deep breath, inched a little closer to the edge, enough that he was almost exposed, and then he turned his attention back to Klaus. “Okay, on the count of three. And Klaus? Leave the nachos behind.”

At the end of the countdown, Diego rolled out from under the table, and quickly moved to duck behind a nearby pillar. Klaus followed closely behind, the nachos abandoned under the table, but a quesadilla in hand. At least, Diego thought, and part of him couldn’t believe that this even crossed his mind, the quesadilla was lighter and he only needed one hand to hold it.

He’d expected to hear another bullet whizzing by. He’d expected to see an impact somewhere down the corridor, which he’d made sure was clear of any people before ducking out. He’d expected something to happen. But nothing did. Frowning, he glanced back at their booth. Surely enough, the little round hole was still there - something had happened. Someone had fired at them.

But someone had fired at them methodically, just as they’d been careful to try and kill his brother in a way that wouldn’t raise any questions.

Maybe, he thought to himself, they didn’t want to fire until they were sure they had a shot. If they kept moving, he figured, they stood a good chance of making it out of there unharmed.

And so he did. He ran from his cover behind the pillar and quickly ducked behind the wall of a booth, only spending a second there to make sure Klaus was following before running out the door and quickly getting into his car, silently thanking the rain for the fact that he’d chosen the paid parking zone in front of the building over a free spot further away. Klaus threw himself into the passenger seat, and Diego pulled into the street, driving in a direction exactly opposite from the gym.

If they didn’t know where he lived, he’d rather keep it that way.

Diners had gotten up now, and they were looking around with confused and worried expressions, Diego could see them through the window, but he ignored them. They were safe, they were not the target.

“I thought you said we were doing Dad’s paintball exercises, not a mad dash for the door!” Klaus complained once he managed to catch his breath.

Diego nodded. “Yeah, bit of a change of plans. She didn’t look like she wanted to fire unless ehe had a clear fix on us, so I made sure she didn’t have one.”

“Care to tell me next time?” Klaus’ voice was louder than usual, and Diego couldn’t help but feel a little bad. He really should have told him, he just hadn’t wanted to stay still for too long, lest he give her the chance to get a sure shot.

“Let’s hope there won’t be a next time.”

Klaus hummed his agreement, and Diego could see him slowly relaxing into his seat, eyes beginning to flutter closed, the quesadilla forgotten on his lap. It’d been a long day, especially for him, and Diego could hardly blame him for being tired.

He, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night. Whoever it’d been at the restaurant was still out there, and she’d gotten far too close to hitting his brother for his liking. Besides, something about this whole thing still bothered him. She’d gotten so close. Someone that methodical had to have been lining up a shot carefully and for a long while, and Klaus hadn’t moved much since he’d sat down. So how, or why, had she missed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have an action scene! Not my forte but I hope it turned out well!


	5. Campfire Stories

The main advantage of living in the boiler room of a gym was that it made it much harder for mysterious assassins to track him down. Or at least Diego hoped that was case as he all but dragged his brother, who insisted the car was a perfectly safe and perfectly comfortable choice of bed, inside. None of his mail, what little mail he even got, was addressed to the gym, he didn’t have a phone number of his own - to figure out where he lived, they’d have to go after his connections.

His mind immediately jumped to Eudora, to what he might have gotten her into by simply involving himself in this situation, but what was he supposed to do? Let his brother die?

Eudora was the one who’d talked him into this in the first place. She was a smart, competent officer who absolutely did not need any protection. She’d be fine. But maybe, he thought to himself, he should give her a call in the morning, let her know about this turn of events, just in case this woman went after her.

Other than that, he figured there weren’t too many loose ends. Vanya? They’d been friends as teenagers, but after her book… Well, he was pretty sure that no one would expect them to have remained close considering what she’d done. His father? If anyone went after that bastard, Diego would consider sending them a basket of cookies. Pogo, his mother? He worried about them a little more, but it was a well-known fact, thanks to Vanya’s book, that both him and Klaus had left the Academy a long time ago and never looked back. He still sent his mother a card and a gift on Mother’s Day every year, but he didn’t see how anyone could possibly know about that - except for Klaus, who’d gone shopping with him on occasion. Al… Well, if they found Al, then they’d all but found him, so he decided not to worry about that just now.

As they arrived at Diego’s place, Klaus made a beeline for the couch and quickly curled up, eyes fluttering closed just as soon as his head hit the cushion. Diego let out a sigh. Yes, he was tired. They both were. Klaus had gotten some sleep in the car while they drove around in an attempt to make sure no one was following them, but Diego… Diego had been awake and worrying the whole time. He was tired, he wished he could lay down for a nap, but they certainly couldn’t afford that now.

Not for him to nap, nor for Klaus.

So Diego went over to the couch and pulled his brother’s legs off the seat, making him nearly roll off and be forced to sit up. Klaus let out a groan of complaint, but he seemed to get the message clearly enough, and he rubbed his eyes.

“Come on, Diego, I’m tired.” He argued, moving into the corner of the couch and drawing his knees up to his chest, arms hugging them close.

Diego sat down next to him, shaking his head. “Yeah? And I’m trying to keep you alive, so buck up. We’re both tired, but it’s only a matter of time before your friend finds us, so let’s not waste any of it.”

Another groan left Klaus’ lips, and he threw his head back, clearly displeased. “Fine, fine. Do you have some coffee or… Something else?”

For a moment, Diego considered unleashing the lecture that was starting to form in his mind, a long-winded ramble about how he’d nearly died just like that a few hours ago, about how he knew how Diego felt about this and _the nerve_ that he had to ask that question, about how he knew - and always, without fail, disregarded - the rules that were imposed when he was staying over. He wanted to let it out so badly, but over the years, Diego had learned to recognize when he was being baited. Oh, his brother hated being lectured, but clearly, it was preferable to the subject they were approaching.

Diego was not going to let him deflect, not this time.

“Hey, focus.” He did actually have coffee in a cupboard somewhere, but if he got up to make it, Klaus would find a way to change the subject. “Come on, tell me what’s going on. Who was that lady? Why were you over at the station yesterday?”

“Oh, didn’t Patch tell you? I wanted to help with a case.”

His brother was, Diego decided, without a doubt, the most infuriating human being on the face of the planet. No, wait - Luther took the crown, of course. And Vanya… He was pissed at her, but she wasn’t infuriating, he decided. So that was it, Klaus was the second most infuriating human being on the face of the planet.

“ _Klaus._ ” There was a warning tone in his voice.

Klaus must have noticed it, because he straightened up a little and let out a sigh, apparently relenting. “Well, you know how ghosts are always prattling on about one thing or another?”

Diego frowned a little, both because he didn’t actually know the first thing about ghosts - that was Klaus’ own area of expertise - and because he’d been fairly sure that his brother hadn’t been able to conjure ghosts in years. He’d rambled about it on occasion, and Diego had never been able to pick up enough to piece together a full picture - besides, during those rambles it was hard to separate fact from fiction - but what he did know beyond pretty much any doubt was that his brother was not able to conjure ghosts anymore.

So what was he going on about now?

“I thought you said you couldn’t do that anymore.” Diego pointed out.

“Oh, you know, not usually. Not if I can help it. But there’s time when the little pricks break through and then… Oof, they sure have a lot to say. And usually I ignore them, but…”

Klaus grew quiet once again, and Diego’s frown deepened. His brother used to talk about the ghosts when they were little. He remembered that. He was always scared of them, always nervous and skittish, but there’d been some level of curiosity. Sometimes, when they were together, he’d try to talk to them, and then he’d relay whatever it was that the ghosts told him. Sometimes, in the dead of night when a few of them found themselves inevitably unable to sleep - Klaus nearly always among them - they’d make it into a game, like their very own campfire spooky story, except it was far too real.

Vanya - or Number Seven, as she’d been known back then - had been worried that Four would resent that when they’d first suggested it, Diego remembered. But Four hadn’t. In fact, he remembered feeling like maybe that was the first time that Four's abilities had ever been cast in a positive light, the first time that he had any kind of _fun_ with them, twisted as it might have been.

They’d take turns making up their own stories, and Klaus would relay the real tale as told by the ghost - or adapted from it, Diego had always suspected, given the look on his brother face at some of the stories. Thinking back to it now, Diego realized that they should have been terrified, that the tales they heard were far too gruesome, far too graphic, far too real and often involving themes that they shouldn’t have been exposed to. The stories they told were similarly horrifying. But, he supposed, all of that was still far less disturbing than their day-to-day lives had been.

Diego wasn’t sure what had made Klaus pull away from his powers entirely. He wasn’t even sure whether it’d been a gradual process or something that had happened suddenly. At that moment, however, he was hit with the realization that a lot had changed regarding Klaus’ relationship to his powers, and none of that change was positive.

“Wow, you’re really going to let me just trail off?” Klaus asked, an amused and concerned look on his face.

Diego blinked, shaking his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts away. “What? No, no, just - what happened this time?”

Klaus’ hands had found the hem of his coat, and his eyes focused solely on it as he played with the faux fur. When he spoke, his voice was low, and his tone was uncharacteristically serious. “She was different. Most ghosts, they’re… Angry. She wasn’t. She sat down with me and we talked for a long time before I even realized she was a ghost. And when I did, she just - she told me how she died. She said it didn’t matter anymore, that she didn’t need closure or anything, that she just… She wanted to talk. But I - I looked her up in the library. She has a little brother who’s still alive. I thought - I thought I owed it to him.” Klaus shrugged slightly.

Diego nodded. Everything was starting to make sense now - Klaus met a ghost, decided to help in a murder investigation, and somehow whoever was behind that woman’s death found out and decided to silence him. That seemed straightforward enough. His brother probably already knew who it was, so they just needed to gather enough information on this person that they could find her, and then they could face her in their own playing field.

“Okay, so the killer is after you now. How did she - “

Klaus raised a hand to stop him, and Diego let out a sigh, but he fell silent. “Wait, wait, that’s not - the killer can’t be after me, Diego, the killer’s dead! Or he _must_ be, he’d be… He’d be well over a hundred by now! Her brother was a little kid when it happened, and he’s eighty-five!“

Diego was silent for a long time after that revelation, stumped. He’d figured from the start that Klaus’ visit to the police station was linked to all of this, but if that person was dead - and a different gender, apparently - then he had no idea who that woman might be. The timing of it was far too convenient, though, it couldn’t be a coincidence. Could it?

“Then who is it?” Diego asked, frowning. “You’ve gotta have some clue. Did you piss off anyone? Do you… Owe money to anyone? Know anything someone might have an issue with?”

There was a brief silence, Klaus’ brows slightly scrunched in thought, his fingers tapping over his knees, and then he shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Not enough that anyone would go through all this trouble, anyway.”

This was easily the first time that Diego had ever actually wanted his brother to be in some kind of trouble, he thought to himself, and the irony in that was painful. If they knew what he’d done, then they could fix it, or at least then they’d know who was after him, and they could devise a strategy. As it was, they were flying blind through a thunderstorm, and Diego had wonder when their luck was going to run out.

“Do you know her?” Diego asked, mostly to make sure he covered all bases. He liked to think that Klaus would have enough sense to tell him if he knew the woman who was trying to kill him, but sometimes… Sometimes he wasn’t entirely sure that his brother had any sense at all.

Klaus shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I mean, I haven’t actually seen her.”

“Right, I’ve been meaning to ask - how did you know she was outside if you didn’t see her?”

Fingers began tapping again, but then they stopped, and Diego could see fingernails digging into the fabric of Klaus’ jeans. If he’d been uncomfortable at the question regarding his visit to the station, it was nothing compared to this. Diego frowned. His brother wasn’t usually so clearly closed off - he tended to deflect with a joke, make light of things and try to brush them off without any further questions. But he was shifting in his seat, sinking into the couch and fidgeting, and Diego couldn’t help but think that he looked almost like a trapped animal.

“Hey, come on, what’s going on there?” Diego asked, hoping to dig Klaus out of whatever this was.

His brother didn’t reply, though, nails just digging into his jeans a little further.

“Klaus, whatever it - “

“I just knew, okay?” Klaus snapped, hands now raised in surrender, though his knees were drawn a little closer to his chest. “Now can I please just go to sleep?”

“You can’t have just known, it doesn’t work like that, Klaus. Come on, what did you - hey, what are you doing?”

Klaus had gotten up from the couch and he was climbing into Diego’s bed, coat already off and flung over the foot of the bed. He waited until he’d pulled the covers over himself and curled up comfortably on the bed to reply. “I’m going to sleep. I’m tired, Diego, can we just - let’s talk about this tomorrow, alright?”

A sigh escaped Diego’s lips, and he got up, moving to stand next to the bed, arms crossed over his chest. He was really not in the mood for this. “And what if she finds us during the night, huh? Come on, Klaus, we need to figure this out now.” Diego insisted.

“There’s nothing to figure out! I already told you everything I know, what more do you want?” There was a hint of desperation in Klaus’ voice, and Diego was suddenly reminded of his conversation with Klaus at the hospital earlier that day, of how he’d lagged behind when they were walking through the hospital. Maybe he needed rest more than Diego realized.

But then again, his original point still stood. They had to figure this out now, before it was too late.

“I want to know how you knew she was outside. Come on, Klaus, it’s a simple question.” Diego pushed. Still, he was met with nothing but silence. “Why don’t you - “

“It was Ben!” Klaus all but yelled, suddenly sitting up on the bed. “It was Ben, alright? You want to know that badly, then there it is! Christ, you’re worse than the ghosts.”

Diego let out a sigh, running a hand over his face. Sometimes he really didn’t understand his brother. “You want to do that now? Really?” They had so much on their plate already, why did Klaus have to do this? He didn’t want to fight, he didn’t want to dig up old wounds, and if it was anything else, he could just let it go. But this was Ben, and he wasn’t going to let Klaus use him, use his ghost, his memory, like that.

His brother didn’t seem to be listening, though, for he’d gotten up from the bed and was in the process of hastily trying to put on his coat. He didn’t say a word, and when Diego tried to catch his eyes, Klaus quickly looked away.

“Klaus.” Diego tried, a hint of tired annoyance in his voice. He really didn’t want to do this, and he really didn’t want to do this now.

No answer.

The coat was on, and Klaus was searching for something - presumably his shoes, which had been quickly taken off somewhere near the door. The glittery pink boots weren’t easy to miss, but his brother had managed to abandon them in a very hidden corner, which added a good minute or so to what Diego could only assume was supposed to be a dramatic storm-off.

“Klaus, come on, you brought it up. Why do you keep bringing Ben into this? Wasn’t the funeral bad enough? Do you even know how much you hurt everyone? Look, you were hurting, we were all hurting, we’re - we’re over it, okay? But stop. Just stop.” His grip on his own patience was flimsy at best, but he was trying. He was trying not to lose his temper, he was trying to be understanding, but he was going to need Klaus to meet him halfway there.

Klaus, it seemed, had other plans.

Having found his boots and quickly slipped them on, he draped himself over the railing of the stairs, glancing down at Diego with a look of pure hurt in his eyes. “You wanna know why? Because you asked. And there you go, there’s your answer. ‘I see dead people’, how surprising right? Like the tattoos weren’t a dead giveaway - oh, look, I didn’t even plan that one.” Klaus raised his hands to demonstrate his point, a tired and exasperated giggle leaving his throat. “You wanna know what I remember from the funeral? I remember Ben crying and asking me to pass on messages to you because he couldn’t do it, I remember my four siblings yelling at me while Pogo shook his head in the background and Mom offered everyone cookies. Who even knows where Dad was, ‘cause it sure wasn’t with his mourning kids at his son’s funeral. I remember convincing myself that Ben was a hallucination because no one seemed to believe I could possibly conjure the ghost of my dead brother, ‘cause how could I possibly be useful for something? And I remember spending days hiding from him because if he wasn’t Ben then it was too painful to be around him. You know, I was even sober for a week or so, just… Trying to make him go away. But he didn’t. He never did. That’s what I remember, Diego.”

There was a lot that Diego wanted to say to him. His stomach seemed to have twisted up in knots, anger boiling beneath the surface of wounds made fresh once more. His brother had to know fully well why no one had believed him. Why Diego still didn’t. And every time he brought up Ben like that, every time he tried to convince them that he could see him… It was an insult to Ben’s memory. He would never have wanted to be used like this.

But none of these words ever made it out, for Klaus turned around to leave, and Diego realized that he had more pressing matters at hand.

“Where are you going, Klaus?” He asked, his voice tired.

“Out. Away. From here.” Klaus gestured vaguely with one hand, the other moving to open the door.

Diego shook his head. “Look, you’re storming out angrily, I got it. You made your point. There’s someone out there trying to kill you, bro. You can’t exactly just wander the streets.”

At that, Klaus let out a chuckle, earning himself a questioning look from Diego. “I don’t care, I’m leaving.”

A small sigh left Diego’s lips, and he quickly jogged up to the stairs, arriving at the bottom just as Klaus was stepping out the door. He paused, though, peering back inside for a second.

“Don’t follow me.” He warned.

Diego opened his mouth to protest.

“Don’t.”

And with that, Klaus disappeared out the door, which slammed forcefully behind him. Funny, Diego noted, that his brother hadn’t been touching it.

  


* * *

  


It was still raining outside.

It’d been raining for hours now, and Diego wondered if Klaus had found somewhere dry to sleep. He wondered if it’d even make much of a difference, considering the fact that he was likely soaked to the bone. There was a part of him that kept pushing these thoughts to the forefront of his mind, and Diego kept trying to push them away. If he was cold and dripping rain, then it was no one’s fault but his own. He’d chosen to storm off, and he was the one who'd brought up Ben in the first place.

A sigh left his lips, and Diego shook his head. He couldn’t understand why Klaus had chosen to bring their dead brother into this, he couldn’t possibly begin to comprehend his timing. Hadn’t they both been through enough? Everyone always figured that Klaus’ lies and stories were his way of getting attention, Ben being easily the loudest cry of them all, but now… Now he was indisputably the center of attention - someone was trying to kill him. Bringing up Ben now, when he knew it’d just cause tension… It just didn’t make sense.

He should sleep, he told himself. It was nearly morning, and he’d been laying awake in bed for hours. HIs mind was too loud, too many thoughts racing through his head. There was so much about this that just didn’t make sense, from this mysterious assailant to the Ben comment.

Ben.

He couldn’t believe that there was a chance that his brother would die over a years old argument and his desperate need for attention. Maybe, Diego thought to himself, just this once, he should’ve let it go. But then again, how was he supposed to know that Klaus would storm out of the place like that? He’d brought this upon himself, he insisted. It was his choice to leave, it was his choice to bring up Ben, to use him like that.

The sun was starting to peek over the horizon now, and light was filtering in through the windows. Diego let out a low groan, pulling the blanket over his head. He needed to sleep, now more than ever. There was too much at stake. How was he supposed to keep his brother alive if he could barely keep his eyes open?

That was one of the lessons their father had taught them that Diego took to heart - sure, they’d learned how to fight under extreme conditions (‘you never know what you might encounter’, Reginald had said, and some of the training they were put through really shone a light on his idea of ‘you never know what’) but he’d always said that a well-rested mind was just as important as anything else.

Not that they used to get all that much sleep, considering the strict schedule and the regular nightmares. Diego was fairly sure that Klaus went through most of his childhood and teenage years sleep-deprived.

Close your eyes, Diego told himself. Count sheep.

One, two -

Nope, boring.

He pictured a target. If that target held a striking resemblance to their father’s silhouette, it was just a coincidence. Nothing more. And then he pictured knives. One knife, a perfect headshot. A second one to the heart. A third one between the ribs, just because he knew he could hit it perfectly.

Finally, he starting to feel sleepy. Just a few more minutes and he’d drift off.

And then the phone rang.

Diego let out a loud groan, rubbing his eyes tiredly, and he threw the covers off himself. Sure, there was every chance that it was just a call for the gym, but it was really early in the morning, and given the events of the day, it was probably better that he check. So he climbed out of bed and staggered up the stairs, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes and squinting against the bright sunlight.

“Hello?” He all but muttered as he answered the phone, stifling a yawn.

“Diego? It’s me, Eudora. Uh… I’ve got your brother here.”

“What, at the station? What did he do this time?” At least he should be safe in a holding cell, especially with Eudora around. She didn’t know the full extent of the situation, but she knew enough to be vigilant. Besides, she was damn good at her job.

There was a small pause, and Diego could hear some muffled sound in the background. “Uh - no, actually. At my place. He showed up at the door, and… Look, I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but he took it hard. He’s been here for two hours already, I just managed to coax him into letting me call you.”

Diego frowned. He created the whole situation, and then he was the one who got upset? Really, none of this made sense. “It’s a long story, Eudora, just - let’s call it family issues. I’m sorry if he woke you up, I don’t even know how he got your address.”

“It’s fine, I was working overtime anyway. I’m telling you, Diego, this city is going crazy.” He couldn’t see her, but Diego could imagine the tired head shake she’d be doing just then. It made him feel a little guilty that Klaus had gotten her involved in this whole thing - he knew she wouldn’t let it go. Now that she knew something was up, she was officially a part of it.

“Look, I - I’ll go and pick him up, okay? Just try to get some sleep.” The word ‘sleep’ was enough to trigger a yawn.

Eudora chuckled slightly. “Sounds like the two of you are the ones who need some sleep. Don’t worry, he’s fine over here. I just… He was really upset, and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I figured I’d call you and tell you to sort this out.” She sounded tired, Diego noted, and he had to imagine that the past couple of hours with Klaus hadn’t been easy.

Sorting this out wasn’t as simple as she was making it out to be, though. She didn’t have the full picture, he figured, she couldn’t possibly understand. There were a lot of hurt feelings surrounding Ben, surrounding his death, and Klaus was at the center of nearly all of them. This was something he couldn’t just overlook, it wasn’t the same as having some trinkets in his house go missing and then just not mention it because the next call he got was from the police station and Klaus was looking a lot worse for the wear.

This was much more serious.

Before he had the chance to say anything, though, Eudora continued. “Anyway, if you wanna talk to him, he promised he’ll come to the phone. Just - hang on, what was that?”

There was a strange sound in the background, and Diego frowned. It was probably just Klaus, he figured, but with everything that was going on, one could never be too careful. “Eudora, wait, I need to - “

He couldn’t hear her breathing on the other end. He couldn’t hear much of anything.

Had the line gone dead?

“Eudora?”

Nothing.

“Eudora!”

Silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens! I have the next chapter more or less outlined in my head, so you shouldn't be left with a cliffhanger for too long xD
> 
> As per usual, if you guys have any theories or any comments, I'd love to hear them!


	6. The Aftermath

The harness seemed to fight against Diego as he tried to put it on, and he cursed under his breath. This should be easy. This had always been easy when his father sounded the alarm and the six - later five - of them had to hurry to get ready for the mission. His heart never raced like this, his chest never felt tight like this.

He’d barely even remembered to change out of his pajamas. If it weren’t for the added protection that his leather outfit offered him, he wasn’t sure he’d have bothered with that. Every moment spent getting ready to leave was one less moment that Eudora and Klaus had.

With the harness finally in place and every knife in its socket, Diego began the mad dash for Eudora’s place. He took his car, figuring that it was the quickest way to get to her apartment, despite it being only a few blocks away, and he prayed to anything or anyone who might be listening to him that no one stopped him. The last thing he needed was to get pulled over. How would he explain that someone needed his help immediately - who would believe him? And even if they did, he hardly had time for the whole routine, those were precious moments that neither him nor his brother or Eudora would be getting back.

It occurred to him when he was halfway there already that he could have called 911. Part of him, the part that had been listening to Eudora when she lectured him on his own brand of justice, felt like he probably should. But, he supposed, he was far too used to this, far too used to taking things into his own hands. If anyone would be able to save them, it’d be him, because he’d go to lengths others might not to protect them. Because he loved Eudora, and he loved Klaus, and that wasn’t something he took lightly. He wouldn’t let any harm come to them if he could help it.

Diego pulled up in front of Eudora’s house and let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding - he’d made it there in record time, no one had stopped him.

Now he just had to find them and hope that it wasn’t too late.

The question as to whether the door had been locked or not was one to which Diego would never know the answer, for he quickly decided not to waste time checking and just break it down. The lock and chain broke fairly easily under the weight of his thrown body, and he fell to the floor with a practiced roll, from which he quickly stood up.

“Eudora?” He called, and maybe he should have tried to be a little more discreet, but panic was welling up inside of him.

No amount of childhood missions where he and his siblings were all in danger could help him to remain absolutely calm under these circumstances. Functional, yes, but calm? He was absolutely terrified. But that was good, he reminded himself. Fear kept him smart. Fear kept him alert. Fear reminded him that just because he and his siblings had powers, it didn’t make them invincible.

Five and Ben illustrated that all too well.

But Klaus wasn’t going on that list. He wouldn’t let that happen. And Eudora would be fine, too. He wasn’t losing anyone else.

Receiving no reply, Diego crept more deeply into the house, knives in hand, ears searching for the slightest creak, the tiniest of breaths, the smallest shuffling, anything that could warn him that someone was coming. But his ears picked up nothing. That wasn’t good. What if he was too late?

“K - Klaus?” He swallowed. “Eud-d-d-ora?

He was getting nervous, he knew that. He was getting nervous, and he needed to calm down, because Klaus and Eudora needed him. Klaus and Eudora needed him at the top of his game. He could do that, he just needed to breathe. Breathe and stay calm, how hard could that be?

Slowly making his way deeper into the house, Diego pondered that question.

The hall was clear, as was the living room. Next to the couch, he could see the phone dangling from the hook - she’d never had the chance to hang up. That made his stomach sink, but he reminded himself that it was hardly conclusive proof that something that had happened. Maybe she’d just had more to worry about over the past few minutes than whether or not she’d hung up the phone. Everything could still be fine.

But everything was not fine, was it? For while he may not have found his brother or Eudora so far, he could see overturned furniture, cushions scattered on the floor, shattered glass and fallen decorations. There’d definitely been some kind of struggle there, and if neither of them were answering… Diego worried about what that might mean.

Two steps into the open kitchen, he came to a halt.

Eudora was sitting up on the floor, back resting against a cabinet. Her shirt was stained with what looked like all too fresh blood, and it had Diego kneeling next to her in a matter of seconds. She didn’t acknowledge him, instead just resting a hand on her forehead and letting out a low groan. She must have taken a pretty bad blow to the head, Diego figured.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, frowning slightly.

She let out another soft groan, eyes moving to find him. “Yeah, just… Oh, this must be the world’s worst headache.”

Diego chuckled softly. “Yeah, go out drinking with my brother and call me the next morning, see if you still think that.” But there was no time for joking now, was there? Diego’s eyes went from the blood on Eudora’s shirt to what he could see trickling down her cheek. “You’re bleeding.” He pointed out, frowning.

One of her hands moved to her temple, and she winced. There was a small cut just below her hairline which he’d missed before, Diego noted, and it was bleeding heavily. She’d be fine, though, provided that she didn’t have a concussion - he’d had enough cuts on the area of know that even the smallest, most harmless of nicks could result in rather dramatic amounts of blood. It probably looked a lot worse than it actually was.

“Let me get you something for that.” He told her, quickly snatching a towel from the counter and handing it to her.

“Not exactly sterile.” She pointed out, a playful smirk on her lips.

Diego raised an eyebrow at her. “Sure, fine, just bleed all over your kitchen floor.”

She chuckled, pressing the towel to her temple with a small hiss of pain.

With Eudora safe and seemingly mostly uninjured, his mind turned to other pressing matters - she was fine, but where was his brother? What had happened? The living room looked like a battlefield, which meant that there had probably been some struggle there, and Eudora had ended up in the kitchen. Maybe she’d been going for a knife, or maybe she’d just been trying to hide - that made sense, at least. But his brother… Had they taken him? Had he tried to make a run for it? Had he hidden out in her room?

Knowing Klaus, he’d go with the latter.

“Hey, what happened here? Where’s my brother?” He asked, glancing around. He’d been in the house for several minutes now, and he’d yet to hear any signs of anyone else being there, so he had to assume that whoever had gone after them had left. He only hoped that it didn’t mean that they’d gotten what they’d come for.

At that, Eudora straightened up, moving to cross her legs and rest her free hand on her knee. “It was crazy, someone… Someone fired at him. But I guess he must have seen it coming, somehow, because he ducked before the glass even shattered. He knocked something over and I heard the noise. By the time I got back to the phone to fill you in, the line was dead. I think whoever it was cut our phone lines. Then she… She came in. Smashed through a window. Klaus… You never told me your brother can _fight_. He held his own for a while, it kind of seemed like the two of us were a match for her, but she was good. I mean, freakishly good. She knocked him to the ground, and she had a knife, she was going to - and there was nothing I could do. But something… Something flew at her. Out of nowhere. And then it kept on happening, my whole bookcase collapsed on her, pictures flew off the walls, it was… It was amazing, really. I was trying to help, I chased after her while she was trying to corner Klaus and something - something knocked me back. I went over the counter and hit my head on the countertop.”

Diego frowned.

He’d been through more missions than he could count, he’d fought alongside Klaus for years, and sure, he’d seen his fair share of weird things. Everything about them, about their whole family, was weird. But what Eudora was describing? That was something he’d never seen before.

It didn’t matter right now, though. There were more pressing matters that needed his attention. “My brother?” He asked, a hint of urgency in her voice.

Eudora frowned, falling silent for a moment before shaking her head. “I don’t - I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

With that, she pushed herself to her feet, swaying unsteadily before her hand found the countertop for support. Diego stood up after her, carefully making his way out of the kitchen. There was no time to lose, the sense of urgency inside of him said, but after the story that Eudora had just told him, he wasn’t taking any chances. He wasn’t sure what was going on there, and from that narrative, there was also the chance that the woman was still there somewhere.

Another quick sweep of the living room revealed nothing new, and Diego, hesitantly and worriedly, moved on to the bedroom.

Three steps into the room, he felt his heart nearly jump out of his throat.

Klaus laid sprawled on the floor, eyes closed, and - was he breathing? Diego couldn’t tell. At that point, he was fairly sure his heart just stopped entirely. He’d nearly lost Klaus twice in the past twenty-four hours, and he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t go through this again, and he absolutely couldn’t lose him. It didn’t matter that he’d revived the years-old Ben argument, it didn’t matter that they’d spent just a few hours together and it’d already ended with Klaus storming out.

He couldn’t lose him, he just couldn’t.

Two more shaky steps brought him to his brother’s side, and he all but collapsed beside him, moving to lay his head on his chest, one hand resting on his belly, the way he remembered Mom had taught them on emergency first aid classes.

He was breathing.

Diego shakily sat himself up, letting out a small breath of relief, biting back tears he really wished weren’t there. Klaus was fine, he reminded himself, he could settle down now. He was fine, and he’d make damn sure that he stayed that way. He wasn’t quite sure how, Klaus wasn’t exactly one to listen or do as he was told, but he’d figure something out.

Ben, Five… He hadn’t been able to save them. But he was older now, and he knew something was coming. He could do this.

Eudora showed up just a few moments later, bracing herself against the doorframe in a way that suggested that she wasn’t exactly steady on her feet just yet. He frowned a little in worry, but she’d be fine, right? She seemed like she’d been through less than Klaus, at least. He supposed, though, that his brother never really set the bar very high for that - he always seemed to find a way to get himself into trouble. It was just as much his superpower as seeing ghosts.

She sat down next to him, and something about his expression must have told her that Klaus was alright, for she didn’t look anywhere near as scared as he expected he must have when he found his brother unconscious on the ground. “How is he?” She asked, frowning softly.

“Alive. I guess that’s pretty good, considering.” He ran a tired hand over his face. He needed sleep, they all did. How could he sleep, though, when there was an assassin after his brother? “I don’t know what to do, Eudora. None of this adds up.”

A small sigh left her lips, and she nodded. “I know. He told me about everything. Sounds like we have no leads - I pulled up security footage from the area where they found Klaus, but I didn’t see anything suspicious. I couldn’t even see her face when she came in earlier, and even if I had… I’m not sure how much good that would do when we’ve got no idea who she could be. I’m pretty sure we’ve never had a case that matches this profile, so we’ve also got no priors. I’ll get a team in the Mexican restaurant and in here, see if forensics can find anything, but from what I saw…” She shook her head. “Diego, whatever your brother got himself mixed up in, it’s big.”

It was Diego’s turn to sigh and nod. “I know. But that’s Klaus to you, I guess.”

They fell silent for a while. Diego stared at his brother’s unconscious form, a frown still in place. He couldn’t be sure that Klaus was alright, just that he was alive, and he knew that under normal circumstances, the best place for him right now would be the hospital. From what Eudora had described, he’d just been through one hell of a fight, and they couldn’t be sure what she’d done to him, how he’d even wound up unconscious.

If she’d found him at Eudora’s though, then she’d find him at the hospital.

For a moment, he considered the possibility of taking him to Mom. She’d know what to do, she’d always given them medical care. She and Pogo, even Dad, would be able to help. No one would expect them to choose to return to the Academy, so it might buy them some time, he might be safe there.

But how safe?

He couldn’t deliver Klaus back into that hellhole. He couldn’t make that choice for him, he couldn’t let him wake up and find himself in that house that they’d all so desperately wanted to escaped - except for Luther, of course. Going back, he supposed, was a choice that they all had. Sir Reginald would never say no to having them under his control once again. And yet Klaus chose life on the streets, never knowing if he’d have a roof over his head, to their father. And Diego didn’t blame him, he’d make the exact same choice.

No matter what, he couldn’t bring him back. He couldn’t.

“Do any of you have telekinesis?” Eudora suddenly asked, breaking their long silence.

Diego blinked. “Uh - no. No, none of us do. Why?”

“Just… The fight. How I got knocked back, all of those things flying, it just - it seemed like something out of those comics people used to write about you. Or those news reports that my parents thought I didn’t watch when I was a kid.” She shook her head, a small frown forming on her face once again. “I don’t know, it just… It didn’t look like it was her. Everything that was flying, it was flying _at_ her. And when I got knocked back - she had her back turned. She couldn’t have seen me coming, and it was so noisy… I don’t think she could’ve heard me, either.”

“What are you saying?”

He knew. He knew what she was trying to say, and somewhere deep inside of him, he was pretty sure that he’d known for a while already. But he needed to hear it. He needed to hear the words before he could accept it.

“I think it was your brother.”

And there it was. He thought he’d accept it when he heard it. He thought it’d make it easier. But it didn’t. It didn’t because Klaus couldn’t have powers that he’d never known about, could he? They all knew their powers, they all knew what they could do, it was cut and dry. Their father had documented everything about them, he’d monitored them, they’d been watched and studied from infancy - Diego refused to believe that if this was true, Sir Reginald was oblivious to it. And if he knew, then… What else did he know? Were there any more secrets? Could he do something beyond holding his breath indefinitely and being able to curve anything he threw?

Klaus was the Séance. He conjured and talked to the dead.

That was it, period.

That had to be it.

“Eudora, he talks to the dead. He doesn’t have the power to move bookcases with his mind - I doubt he can even move a bookcase with his arms by now!” Training had ended years ago, and now… Now Klaus seemed to be mostly just skin and bone.

The look she gave him was one he knew all too well, and it only infuriated him further. It was that patented ‘you’re being unreasonable and I’m not going to argue with you until you’re ready to listen’ Eudora look that tended to show up whenever his family was mentioned. He wondered if she was right, if he didn’t think clearly when it came to them. He liked to think that out of the seven of them - five, if he was being fair, given Five’s disappearance when they were thirteen and Ben’s death - he was the one who most saw things for what they were.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with Eudora if he let himself get too worked up.

“He c - can’t - “ Deep breaths. Picture the word you want to say in your mind. “He can’t have new powers, Eudora. Our father studied us like we were fucking lab rats. We lived under a microscope, he tested us to our limits. If there was something there, he’d have found and forced him to learn how to use it on missions. Besides, how do you go over twenty years never knowing that you can move things with your mind?”

“I don’t know, maybe he never needed them before.” Eudora offered.

Diego raised an eyebrow at her. She’d never been an avid Umbrella Academy fan, but back in the days when they were active, it was hard to miss them. Their father made sure they were always in the spotlight, and between the news, the comics, the interviews, the action figures - they were everywhere. She must have seen how they fought, she must have seen the kind of danger they’d all been in. Klaus had never had a quiet life, and there were certainly times when telekinesis could have helped him, could have helped them.

“Okay, maybe not. Look, Diego, I’m just telling you what I saw. Those things weren’t knocked over, they were - they were thrown. But no one was throwing them. And I’m telling you, it can’t have been that woman.” She shook her head. “Is this really the first time something like this is happening?”

Instinctively, Diego knew the answer.

No, it wasn’t.

Weird things always happened around Klaus. They’d all noticed it at some point or another - things that shouldn’t have fallen fell, things that should fall didn’t. And just recently… Two doors had slammed that shouldn’t have slammed. He’d literally dodged a bullet, or maybe _it’d_ dodged him. Weird things happened around Klaus, and they all dismissed it because - well, because it was Klaus, he supposed. They all expected weird from him, whatever form it may take. Or maybe the idea of one of them having undiscovered powers was just a little too much for them to handle. Besides, back in those days… In one way or another, they’d all considered their father to be almost all-knowing. So if Reginald said that Number Four’s power was to conjure and contact the dead, then that was his power, and nothing more.

He hated remembering how much they’d _trusted_ him, despite everything.

“He’s telekinetic.” Diego all but whispered, eyes wide with surprise. “All these years, we all - weird things happened, you know? But we figured it was a trick of the light, or just… The wind, something. We never connected the dots.”

There was a hint of a smile playing on Eudora’s lips, and he wasn’t sure whether she was genuinely happy at the realization, or if she was just smirking because she’d been right and he’d been wrong. “I don’t think he knew, either. This would all have been a lot easier if he did.” She pointed out.

He wondered if he did know. Klaus had never really gotten a handle on his powers - on his conjuring powers, he should say, he supposed. He’d tried, Diego remembered that. No matter what their father said, he knew his brother had given it all he could. Maybe under better circumstances he’d be a highly skilled medium nowadays, but the reality was that their father had broken them all in their own, unique ways. If he’d shoved his conjuring abilities as far away from him as possible, then maybe he’d just ignored his telekinesis until now. Maybe deep down somewhere, he’d always known.

They’d find out, he supposed, once Klaus woke up.

Whether their father had known or not was another matter entirely, and Diego earmarked it as one of those things that he’d investigate the day he got the invitation for Reginald’s funeral. He’d always wondered what their father wrote on those books he always had with him during training. Maybe they’d have some answers.

Letting out a sigh, he shifted into a crouching position. “Come on, help me get him up on the bed.”

It was alarmingly easy to lift him up and place him on the bed - it was far from the first time that he’d ended up having to carry Klaus, but how _light_ he was always spooked him a little. Maybe, Diego thought to himself, he’d make him a large breakfast to make up for the mostly lost dinner from the previous night. He knew his brother always made light of how often he went several days without a proper meal, but there came a point when he had to start to worry, and that point was far behind them already.

He wasn’t the most amazing cook, and neither was Eudora, but he was sure they could scrounge up some pancakes.

“If I say we should take him to the hospital, you’re just going to tell me that’s out of the question, aren’t you?” Eudora asked him, raising a knowing eyebrow in his direction.

Diego nodded. “Look, under normal circumstances I’d be halfway to the emergency room already, but if she found him here, how long do you think it’s gonna take for her to find him in a hospital? And then there’s civilians and… We can’t take that risk. This is a defensible position, I say we keep him here until he wakes up, then we take him back to my place. But you should get that checked out.” Diego nodded towards the cut on her head.

“And leave you here to deal with this alone? No way.” She shook her head. “Look, if I start getting sleepy or nauseated, I’ll go. But I’m fine.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. There was no talking her out of it, he knew that already, but he’d keep at it, if only to get back at her for all the times she nagged at him. “You know you should go. Concussions can be pretty serious.”

“Extenuating circumstances!” She opened her arms, gesturing to the general mess that was a clear evidence of what had happened in her house just a few minutes ago.

“You’d be dragging me to the hospital, just saying.” He shrugged and offered her the most innocent look he could muster up.

She threw one of her pillows at him.

Diego dodged it and laughed, though the laughter died out quickly. He didn’t know what to do now. He desperately wanted to keep Klaus alive, but how? She, whoever she was, would be coming back, he was sure of that. She’d be coming back, and she’d be a lot more prepared. Klaus, on the other hand… He looked like he was a lot worse for the wear. Would he be up for another repeat of that? Would he even know how to summon his powers again?

She was learning about them, getting a chance to adapt her strategies. They didn’t have the first clue who she was, or why she was even after Klaus.

“You get some rest, Eudora.” He said as he started to make his way out of the bedroom. “I’m gonna clean up some of this mess.”

“Diego, you don’t have to - “

He held up a hand to stop her.

No, that wasn’t a priority, he knew that. But he needed time, and he needed some space to think. Pulling up bookshelves and cleaning up broken glass might just be exactly what he needed right now. It wasn’t like he’d be getting any sleep, anyway. Maybe later, if they managed to piece together any of this. He was sure he’d rest more easily once they had some answers.

And so he got to work.

He pushed the bookshelf back on its feet, he did his best to get the books back in order, he fixed the overturned couch and placed the cushions back where they belonged. And it was under one of those cushions that he found it.

It was a little piece of paper, slightly crumpled, but it was folded neatly, as if someone had carefully carried it around in their pockets. He considered handing it back to Eudora, but curiosity got the best of him, so he unfolded it as he made his way back to the bedroom and started to read what looked like the contents of a memo.

**REASSIGNMENT: RETRIEVE NUMBER FOUR ‘KLAUS’ HARGREEVES ALIVE.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a little longer than I planned, but it was a big one! Lots of things beginning to be revealed, and hopefully it's starting to shape up the bigger picture. As always, I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking!


	7. Blueberry Pancakes

“I don’t get it.” Eudora’s brow was creased into a frown, eyes carefully scouting the paper she was holding as Diego had done dozens of times before her. “Who sends a _memo_ about something like this? It literally says ‘office memorandum’. What office?”

“The Commission.” Diego replied.

Eudora rolled her eyes at him. He knew that she’d seen the name printed on the memo as clearly he had. “But what _is_ the Commission?”

He shrugged. “Beats me.”

Over the past several minutes, as Diego paced up and down Eudora’s room, he’d gotten to three conclusions. One, there was some kind of organization out there that had taken an interest in his brother. Two, they’d wanted him dead, but for some reason they were now interested in taking him alive - maybe they figured they were attracting too much attention? He wasn’t sure on that one yet. And three, he was definitely not supposed to have gotten his hands on that.

At first, he’d considered the possibility that maybe that was left behind strategically. Maybe they’d wanted to bait him somehow, get him to follow clues that led him to exactly where they wanted him. But he’d known next to nothing about what was going on, he’d been flying completely blind on his mission to protect his brother, and now he had something. Now he could investigate.

Now at least he knew they wouldn’t be going in for the kill.

“We’ve got a name, at least.” Eudora piped up after a moment. “Cal.”

“Oh, yeah, that bursts the case right open. Now we just need to look for a mysterious assassin that works for something called the Commission, and we’ve even got the name ‘Cal’ to narrow it down. Easy.” He rolled his eyes.

“I know someone named Cal. It’s definitely not him, though. He’s - ”

“Not now, Klaus.” Diego snapped instinctively, opening his mouth to continue talking to Eudora before realization dawned on him.

_Klaus._ Klaus was awake.

He was slowly sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes with the back of one hand while the other worked to bring him close enough to the headboard that he could lean back against the pillows. He looked tired, Diego noted, and his eyes were red and puffy. He knew that look all too well - he’d been crying. Maybe, he thought to himself, he should have expected that, but somehow it still came as a surprise, heart twinging at the sight. He should have let it slide, just this once. They both had enough on their plates already.

“Hey, Klaus, how are you feeling?” He asked, moving to take a seat by his brother’s side.

Klaus’ lips quirked into a small smile. “A little hurt that your first words to your brother after he sent a really badass assassin packing were ‘not now, Klaus’. No ‘good job, Klaus’? No ‘I’m sorry we stuck you on lookout for half the missions, Klaus’?”

The slightest amused smile formed on his lips before his expression turned serious again. For a moment there, he’d gotten so caught up on that memo and what it might mean that he’d almost forgotten that there were other matters to tackle. “So that was really you?”

Klaus raised an eyebrow at him. “No, it was Casper the Friendly Ghost. Of course it was me, Diego! Oh, and Patch! She was a big help, really. You’re right, she really kicks ass.”

“So you two talk about me?” Eudora was smirking as she spoke, and Diego had to make an effort not to blush. It was ridiculous, he told himself - she knew that he liked her. They’d dated, and he’d made his feelings perfectly clear. She knew that they hadn’t just magically disappeared, either - they’d just figured out that the two of them just couldn’t work as a couple. They were better off as friends. She knew that fully well, or she wouldn’t be teasing him like this.

Diego opened his mouth to reply, but Klaus beat him to it.

“Of course! Diego talks about you all the time. You know - “

“Klaus.”

“He really - “

“Klaus.”

“Not now, Diego! He - “

“Klaus!”

“Fine!” Klaus let out a frustrated sigh, arms lifting and falling back onto the bed as if to punctuate his frustration.

Good, he’d not only stopped Klaus from telling Eudora what he was sure was going to be something embarrassing, but he now also had the floor, he could steer this conversation somewhere useful rather than sit there and listen to Klaus ramble on about something completely unnecessary for half an hour.

The Commission. The Commission was trying to take him, and why? Where? What could they possibly want with Klaus? Their father was rich, but he was also a cold bastard, and Vanya’s book had to illustrate that very clearly. Diego doubted that he’d spend a single dollar on Klaus. He just wasn’t valuable enough for him.

“Eudora said she saw things flying during the fight, things that… No one had touched them. You know anything about that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at Klaus.

He’d expected his brother to brag.

Diego had watched Klaus desperately try to be more useful on mission for years, only to end up having Reginald have him train harder and harder despite Klaus’ own loud claims that his power was useless. But this - this gave him another shot, didn’t it? Telekinesis had a wide range of applications, and as far as he knew, Klaus wasn’t scared of flying objects like he was terrified of ghosts. He’d really expected Klaus to brag.

Instead, his brother seemed to recoil, eyes fixed on his hands, picking absentmindedly at his chipped nail polish.

“Klaus?” He pushed.

“No, I - no clue. Must’ve uh… Must’ve been the wind.” He picked at his nail polish a little harder, making larger and larger fragments fall on his lap, gathering into a small pool of black dust.

His brother was lying, there was no doubt about that. The problem now would be getting him to tell the truth - it was always time consuming and often nerve wrecking, and… Dammit, he just really needed some sleep, he couldn’t deal with this now. Besides, it wasn’t like there wasn’t some pretty big news to break to him.

Why did he have to make everything complicated?

“Come on, Klaus, we don’t have time for this.” He ran a tired hand over his face. “We know it wasn’t the wind. Just - just tell me what you know about it.”

“Nothing!” Klaus insisted.

Across the room, one of the few pictures left standing suddenly fell from the wall.

Sure, it wasn’t him.

Diego raised an eyebrow at Klaus, who shook his head vehemently. “That was a coincidence, it - it probably got knocked loose during the fight, it was going to fall sooner or later.”

“Klaus, come on, why don’t you want to talk about this?” His tone was nearly begging his brother for some answers, tired and exasperated. Really, he just wanted some sleep, he wanted to be able to lay down on his bed and know that Klaus was safe, or as safe as he ever got. Those months when he was in rehab were the best vacations Diego ever had, and part of him felt bad because he knew that rehab was far from easy, he knew his brother was absolutely not having fun, but at least he was being looked after. At least he had food on his table every day, he had a roof over his head, and people ready to deal with any emergencies that came up.

Klaus shook his head, but there was a little frown on his face that told Diego that he might just finally get a real answer from him. Don’t push it, he told himself, just wait for him to talk on his own.

And finally, he relented.

“It’s been happening since… Always.” He admitted, pulling his knees up to his chest, arms bracing them. “You know how Dad was always pushing me, saying that I was wasting my potential, that I was a disappointment, that I could do more, better. I thought… For a little while there, I thought maybe that meant that I could do more than just conjure ghosts. So I practiced in secret, you know, so I had something to show Dad. I never got anywhere, but… But he caught me one day. He - “

Klaus was shaking, and Diego frowned, moving to place a hand on Klaus’ shoulder. He almost expected it to be shrugged away, but it wasn’t.

“He said that was a waste of my time, that I should be focusing on conjuring instead of chasing after a fantasy. He forbade me from talking about the subject again, and every time I tried to bring it up…” He shook his head. “After a while I… I guess I started to believe him, to believe there was nothing there. I mean, it’s not like I was going on much in the first place, just… Just doors shutting on their own, things falling, that kind of stuff. Nothing like this had ever happened before.”

“Dad really did a number on us, didn’t he?” Diego shook his head, frown still in place.

He was pretty sure that he was the first one of them to see their father for who he was - he was certainly the first one to leave, he’d bolted from that house like a bat out of hell. But even now, years later, when the only one of them who even still spoke to their father was Luther, he still fount himself amazed and horrified by just how much Sir Reginald had managed to screw them up. Klaus, with a latent power he’d refused to acknowledge, terrified to admit that he’d been the one using telekinesis… How much else was there?

“You’re telling me?” Klaus let out a small, sad chuckle. His arms were slowly falling back to his side, legs relaxing and no longer pulled so close to his chest.

Diego chuckled, if only to fight against the mounting anxiety that built up every time their childhood was mentioned. He’d never run from it quite like Klaus - in fact, there was a lot about it that he’d never shed, continuing the superhero business in his own way, on his own terms. He liked it, he wasn’t afraid to admit it. He loved helping people, he loved knowing that he was doing something that mattered, and he loved it all the more when he didn’t have to listen to their father or Luther. But not running quite as far as his brother didn’t mean that there weren’t a lot of memories that he shoved as far back into a dark corner of his mind as he could, tucked away into a locked box labeled ‘DO NOT OPEN’.

Funny, how meetings with Klaus, who Diego was sure could be the personification of an avoidant personality, had a way of dredging up those memories.

But now wasn’t the time for a trip down memory lane. Now wasn’t the time for them to debate just how much Reginald had screwed them up. No, they had enough on their plates already. Later, maybe, if they ever finished talking about Klaus’ somewhat newfound telekinesis.

“You know anything by the name of ‘the Commission?’” Diego asked after a long pause, finally managing to snap himself out of his thoughts.

Startled, Klaus shook his head. “No, not really. Why?”

Diego’s eyes fell on Eudora, who was still holding the memo, and he nodded towards his brother. Understanding his silent request, she handed the little sheet of paper over to Klaus.

His brother was silent for a long minute after that, eyes fixed on the memo. Diego could see his eyes scouring it, moving quickly over it time and again, a soft frown creasing his brow. If he had to take a guess, Diego would say that his brother didn’t understand any of it any better than the two of them, which was certainly not good news. He’d really hoped that Klaus would be able to shed some light on this, even he had to admit that he hadn’t expected that.

After what must have been at least Klaus’ twentieth time reading the short memo, it fell from his hands, and he leaned back against the headboard, his head hitting the wood with a soft thud. “I’m guessing they’re not asking for me alive so they can take me for ice cream, huh?” He murmured, eyes squeezed shut. Diego was starting to get the feeling that he was trying very hard to stay calm.

He had to give it to him, Klaus was doing remarkably well.

“I’d say probably not.” Eudora chimed in, offering him a sympathetic look. “But they’re not trying to kill you anymore, which should make it easier to protect you. And if anything happens…”

Diego remembered something very clearly from his days of police training - never make promises that you might not be able to keep. It’d sounded so cold to his ears, but it was one of those things that he’d come to understand with time. It was kinder to be honest, it was kinder not to give someone false hope.

“We’ll find you.” Diego finished.

It wasn’t false hope. He told himself that vehemently. It wasn’t, because if anyone dared take his brother, he’d find him. No matter what, he would.

Eudora glanced over at him, a bit of a surprised look in her eyes, before she nodded in agreement. The smallest of smiles formed on Diego’s lips. He had no doubt that if anything happened to his brother, Eudora would be by his side helping him find Klaus - truth to be told, he’d already spent long nights up with her, scouring the city because some thing or another told him that his brother might be in trouble. The question there was how far she’d be willing to go. That little nod told him that she’d be with him until the end.

That was all he needed to hear.

There was a long pause while the three of them contemplated the situation. Diego’s anxiety was growing by the minute, he felt like an animal trapped in a cage - he needed to move, he needed to be doing something, anything, to solve this. But he didn’t know what to do. They had clues, they had what he was sure was something huge, but none of it made sense. He’d never heard of something called ‘the Commission’, he had no idea why they were after his brother, and Cal… Cal wasn’t much to go on where names were concerned.

“We should go.” He finally said, breaking the silence. “She’ll be back soon, and she already knows about this place. We should head back to my place, leave the car here. It’ll be too easy to spot it now.”

Eudora shook her head. “Look, she’s gonna need some time to recover. You two stay here, get some sleep. I’ll stay awake, call the station, see if I can’t get Beeman to do some research for me.”

“You need some rest, too, Eudora.” Diego pointed out. “You’ve been awake longer than I have, and I’m exhausted.”

“True, but it’ll be easier for me to talk to Beeman and a few other people back at the station. I’ll get some sleep in the morning, alright? Good.” And with that, she stood up and headed back to the living room, not waiting for a reply.

He wanted to argue, he really did. He wanted to chase after her and say that just this once, they could do things his way, maybe make a small quip about how this was why the two of them would never have worked out. He really did. But the truth was that between his brother nearly dying, the incident at the restaurant, their argument, Klaus leaving, and those terrifying minutes when he really thought that Klaus and Eudora could very well be dead, he was exhausted. He was absolutely, completely drained.

And she knew that, didn’t she? It was probably written all over his face.

Klaus’ exhaustion certainly was. So when his brother started to get up, presumably to head to the living room, Diego moved to place a hand on his shoulder, gently signaling for him to stay on the bed. “Tell you what, you take the bed this time. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“It’s fine, I’m kind of a pro couch surfer.” Klaus waved a hand dismissively.

Diego shook his head. “Nah, you need the rest more than I do. You stay here. Besides, the living room is more central. Strategic position.”

Klaus chuckled slightly, already starting to get under the covers, tired eyes fluttering closed. “Diego the hero.” He teased, a fond smile on his lips. “Thanks, bro.”

The smile was returned, though Klaus missed it, his eyes having already closed.

  


* * *

  


Morning seemed to come far too soon, though Diego supposed that was what they got for going to sleep at the break of dawn. The clock on the wall - which Diego supposed had probably been on the floor a few hours ago considering the large crack that ran through its face - said that it was a little after nine in the morning, which meant that even if he’d fallen asleep when his head hit the pillow - and he had, it’d been surprisingly easy to fall asleep - he couldn’t have gotten more than five hours of sleep.

The smell of pancakes filled the room, and Diego’s stomach grumbled. Right, he’d only had a few nachos for dinner the previous day, it was no wonder he was starving.

Thank goodness, he thought to himself, that Eudora had thought to make breakfast.

“Morning.” He greeted as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, slowly sitting up on the couch. “Thanks for making breakfast, I - “

“Shh, Eudora’s sleeping!” The answer came from the kitchen, and Diego nearly jumped out of his skin.

Klaus. It was Klaus that was making them breakfast. And he’d damned it that didn’t smell like the best homemade pancakes he’d seen in years - he’d be willing to bet that it hadn’t even come from a mix, they were made from scratch. And what was that - blueberries?

Blueberries.

He loved blueberries.

Eudora didn’t love blueberries. She didn’t even _like_ blueberries. Klaus liked blueberries, if he remembered correctly, but they weren’t a favorite. He was partial to apple.

Diego frowned, turning around on the couch to face his brother. “Did you make these?”

“What? Oh, the pancakes? Yeah. I was going to make some waffles, but Eudora doesn’t have a waffle iron, and she didn’t have any eggs, either, so I figured if I was going to the supermarket, I might as well get things to make pancakes. Oh, that reminds me! I took some cash from your pocket while you were asleep, I hope you don’t mind that.”

“You - you went to the supermarket?”

“Yeah! Really, the two of you were made for each other, you never have anything in your fridges. I’d have settled for some scrambled eggs, or french toast, but everywhere I look - empty. How do the two of you survive? Do you just order takeout every day? Is there breakfast takeout?”

“Klaus - _Klaus!_ ”

His brother flipped the pancakes, then paused to look at him.

“Shut up.”

Klaus opened his mouth to argue, but one look from Diego silenced him, and he turned his attention back to his pancakes, eyes wandering over to his brother like a scolded puppy. Diego let out a sigh.

“There’s an assassin out there trying to get you, and you went to the supermarket to get us breakfast?” He asked him, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

Klaus shrugged, pulling the pan out of the fire and setting it down on a tea towel spread over the counter. Without anything in his hands, Diego noticed that his brother seemed kind of fidgety - not that Klaus fidgeting was anything new, as kids Klaus may not have been the most rebellious, with Diego being the proud owner of that title, but he’d certainly always been the most disruptive, having maybe a little too much energy for what their father considered acceptable. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Klaus was… Nervous, maybe? Something seemed off.

“We needed breakfast.” He explained, scooping the pancakes into dishes absentmindedly.

Diego raised an eyebrow at him. “And you absolutely had to go out and get it?”

Klaus gestured towards the door. “It’s literally just across the road, and I’m fine!”

“Yeah, but what if you weren’t? Come on, Klaus, she found you here, she found you at the Mexican place, she could find you at the damn supermarket!” Why did keeping Klaus alive have to be such a complicated job? Diego knew that none of them had the faintest clue what was actually happening, but staying close, not going out on the street… That was kind of basic, wasn’t it?

“I got you blueberries.” Klaus offered.

Diego glared at him, but he got up from the couch and went to sit at the counter, accepting his pancakes. He was starving, he liked blueberry pancakes more than he generally cared to admit, and stupid or not, Klaus making his favorite flavor was awfully thoughtful. It made his anger dissipate a little. At least he’d made it there and back in one piece.

There was a long moment of silence as they ate. Diego, distracted by his pancakes - and where, _where_ could Klaus have possibly learned to cook that well? - didn’t notice it for several minutes. Five minutes turned into ten, which rolled onto fifteen as he finished off the extra blueberries that Klaus had placed on his dish. It was only as he finished picking off the crumbs that he glanced over at Klaus and it dawned on him.

He’d been sitting at the table with Klaus for a quarter of an hour and not a word had been said.

Sure, he was often quieter during meals. It was an old habit from their Academy days, from when their father would scold them if they ever tried to make conversation during a meal - as far as Diego could tell, they were _all_ a little quieter when they were sitting at the table. But Klaus being silent for fifteen minutes straight?

Something was wrong.

He’d barely even touched his pancakes.

And as if on cue, Klaus shifted on his seat so that he was facing Diego, fingers nervously playing with the faux fur of his coat. “Hey, Diego? I was thinking… This Commission, they want me, right? And we can’t really fight them because we don’t know anything about them. But they’re not trying to kill me anymore, so maybe… Maybe we could use that to our advantage. Get the upper hand on them. I mean, they don’t know that we know, right?”

Diego frowned. He had a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“What are you saying, Klaus?” He asked.

“I’m saying… We beat them at their own game. We get her before she can get me. Lure her into a trap. And the one thing we know she wants is… Me.”

And there it was.

“Klaus, we’re not using you as bait.” Diego shook his head.

No, they were not doing this. Absolutely not. The situation couldn’t possibly be bad enough for that, and he wasn’t going to put his brother in the line of fire. Eudora and Klaus had barely been a match for her until Klaus’ powers manifested, so what guarantee did they have that this trap would even work? What if she managed to whisk Klaus away?

“Think about it, Diego! She’s the only one who can explain what’s going on.”

He shook his head. “Nope. We’re not discussing this, Klaus. We’re not going to use you as bait, and that’s final.”

“Actually…” Diego turned around to see Eudora standing at the doorway that led to her room, arms crossed over her chest, a tired look on her face. She’d gotten about as much sleep as Klaus, from the looks of it. “I think he’s right, Diego.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, this is a little late! I had a version with a different ending written up, but I wasn't really happy with it, so I decided to rewrite part of it and then I got pretty busy, but here it is! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and as always, I'd love to hear what you're thinking!


	8. Into the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the super late update! Life got busy and I've had this almost finished for weeks now but I couldn't seem to find the time to finish it and edit it. I hope it was worth the wait, though, and the next chapter shouldn't take this long to be posted!

Diego was furious.

He’d had his fair share of disagreements with Eudora, they’d had more arguments than he could count and certainly enough fights that they’d eventually realized that they couldn’t work as a couple. The day he’d gotten kicked out of the Academy had been the worst of them, and he remembered thinking that if they could get through that, they could get through anything, because he couldn’t possibly ever be this angry with her again, could he?

As it turned out, he’d been wrong. It was entirely possible to top that day, that fight.

He wasn’t sure that he’d ever been as angry at anyone as he was at that moment. Not at Captain Hughes when he got him kicked out of the Academy, not at Vanya for writing that book, not at the guy who once approached him and suggested that he throw a fight for some extra money - never. Or… No, he was still more angry at his father, that was no competition. Eudora might want to use Klaus as bait, but Reginald would have had him dangling from a hook a long time ago already, with all the others far too frightened to even protest.

The fact that the comparison was even made, though, certainly didn’t bode well for her.

“What, you want to - to th-throw him out there, see what’s b-biting?” His heart was racing, and he knew that he was getting too emotional, he knew that he needed to calm down, to take a moment to think about this because he _trusted_ Eudora and if she was on board, then that wasn’t something to be taken lightly, but he couldn’t seem to make his mind slow down for even a moment.

Eudora shook her head, making her way to the kitchen and pouring herself a cup of coffee - he hadn’t even noticed it before, but Klaus seemed to have taken care of that as well. There was an empty mug on the sink where the coffee still seemed somewhat fresh. It made Diego wonder for how long his brother had even been up.

“She’ll be coming after him one way or another. I don’t like this any more than you do, but if she’ll be making a move anyway, then we might as well use it to our advantage. We’ll choose the playing field, we’ll control as many of the variables as possible, make her play our game.” Eudora explained.

There was something about the way she spoke that made him feel as though it were supposed to be perfectly reasonable, but to his ears, it sounded like she was proposing that they ride to the moon mounted in unicorns in a perfectly serious voice. No, they weren’t going to use Klaus like that. They weren’t going to put his life on the line.

“So what that she’s c-coming after him? We’ll hide him! Put him in one of your safe-houses or - I don’t k-kn-know where yet, but we’ll find a place!” Anything, he figured, had to be better than that. It sounded like Klaus had just barely escaped her the last time, and it’d taken a lot out of him. What if this time his telekinesis wasn’t enough? What if the three of them weren’t a match for her now that she knew what to expect from Klaus?

No.  
That was not happening.

A sigh left Eudora’s lips. “Let’s say you hide him. How do you know she won’t find him? And for how long are you even thinking of keeping him there? A few days? A few weeks? A few months? We don’t know how badly these people want him. Our best option - our _only_ option is to try to get her before she gets Klaus.”

“I don’t c- “ He bit his lip, took a long breath, and let his mother’s words reverberate in his mind. _Picture the word in your mind._ “I don’t care how long it takes, as long as he’s safe.”

“But he’s n - “

The clock fell from the wall in the living room. Diego nearly jumped out of his skin, and he could see Eudora turning around, one hand moving towards an absent holster. Klaus almost slid out of his stool, but he managed to catch himself on the kitchen counter and straighten himself up. Once they’d recovered from the scare, all eyes fell on Klaus, who shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“You know I’m sitting right here, right?” He finally said, and although he seemed a little hesitant to speak, his tone gave away his irritation easily enough. “Don’t I get a vote in this? I don’t want to be bait any more than you do, Diego, but I - I don’t want to hide out somewhere for who knows how long! I can’t - I can’t do that! I can’t.”

Diego breathed out a sigh, resting his head on his hands.

This seemed like a terrible idea. Every bone in his body was telling him not to do it, to just grab Klaus and run as quickly as possible. But his brother was stubborn, and Diego knew when he wouldn’t be able to convince him of something.

“Fine! Fine. But don’t come crying to me when it doesn’t work and she hauls you off to this Commission.” What if that did happen? What if his brother disappeared off the map, what if he couldn’t find him? He was not ready to lose another brother. His chest felt tight, it was getting harder to breathe, but he forced himself to take deep, calming breaths. If they were going to do this, he needed to be on his game, he needed to have a clear head.

“Oh, of course not, you’re going to come crying to me! My own personal knight in shining armor.” Klaus smiled teasingly, placing a hand on his heart dramatically, and Diego rolled his eyes.

  


* * *

  


“I can’t believe you’re calling me by that name again.”

Diego shook his head, letting out a tired sigh. This day was stressful enough without Klaus being… Well, Klaus. At the same time, though, it was oddly comforting to hear his brother being so nonchalant about this, even if he knew that Klaus was just as scared as they all were. It was familiar, it made the whole thing feel like just another mission, and a mission he could handle. He’d trained for them, he still did, of his own accord. He’d been as ready as he could have been, and now…

They could handle this, right?

“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me come up with new codenames! Do you I think I like being ‘the Séance’? I hate conjuring ghosts! I mean, it’s the Kraken or Number Two, you take your pick. I know which one I’d choose.”

Diego clenched his jaw, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Maybe, he thought to himself, they could just send him to the moon. Then he’d be Luther’s problem, _he_ could take care of keeping Klaus safe. And if the Commission got him, maybe they’d return him the very next day.

“ _Fine._ ” Came his pointed reply, the word stressed with as much irritation as he could place on it. ” _Kraken_ out.’

Still, as he heard Klaus cheer from the other end of the line, Diego couldn’t help but crack a small smile. It was nice, seeing him happy. For as much as he might smile and joke, the moments when he saw him truly happy were few and far between.

“Did you have to give him a microphone?” Diego asked Eudora, raising an eyebrow at her.

She let out a small laugh. “You want to hear what’s going on on his end, don’t you? And you could be a little more grateful, you know? These things are pretty hard to get, the precinct doesn’t even have any. You’re lucky I know a girl who works with this and she had a pair to spare.”

“I know, I know. Thanks, Dora.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Hey, if I have to suffer, you have to suffer. That’s just how it works.” Diego let out a laugh, and Eudora playfully punched his shoulder, biting back a chuckle.

And that was when it happened.

Klaus had been sitting on a park bench - one of his usual hangouts, among the top five places where Diego looked for him when he needed to find him. They’d faked an argument a couple of hours earlier, and Klaus had stormed out, roaming the city for a little while before settling on the park. It was a rundown place, and the rain had returned, which meant that aside from him sitting on the bench, hunched into a unicorn-themed raincoat that he’d found in a convenience store somewhere - Diego was still not quite sure where or when he’d bought it, but Klaus swore that he hadn’t nicked it - the park was empty.

Until it wasn’t.

A figure approached from the tree-line behind Klaus, and Eudora calmly relayed that information to him while Diego started down the street. The clock was ticking.

Klaus waited a moment to turn around, presumably to sell the charade.

Diego pulled a couple of knives out of his belt.

They were in the air just a moment too late.

They didn’t miss Cal - Diego prided himself in having a near perfect aim, and this was no exception. No, they flew right at their target, but she’d already spotted him, and she ducked out of the way, allowing the knives to fly freely past her and lodge themselves in the tree just a foot behind her.

She pulled them out easily, twirling the knives in her hands with a skilled, fluid motion.

Diego cursed under his breath.

That’d been careless and maybe a little arrogant of him - sure, he still had plenty more knives on him, but he’d just given her two weapons she seemed to be able to wield very well, and he’d lost the element of surprise. Now it was a matter of hoping that some careful study of the area and some strategizing turned the tide - plus, Eudora was still out of the equation. She could be their element of surprise.

Klaus tried to disarm her, but she easily flipped him onto the floor. Diego charged at her, and she ducked out of the way, catching him from behind as he slowed down and nearly knocking the knife he’d drawn from his boot out of his hand. But Klaus was back on his feet, and he pounced on her, knocking her away from Diego and almost sending them both crashing onto the ground.

That was it, Diego figured. That was his chance.

Klaus was clinging to her back with his arms around her neck, and she was clearly disconcerted, trying to shake him off, which meant that she was distracted. If he could just get the right timing, then…

He threw a knife at her, but a moment before it reached her, she ducked, finally managing to dislodge Klaus from her back. Klaus rolled safely away as the knife fell to the floor, and he was on his feet a moment later. His eyes found the weapon, and he dove for it, but Cal managed to push him away, securing a third knife for herself. 

She threw it quickly and swiftly, and Diego spotted it just a second too late, distracted by Eudora’s cruiser driving into the park. 

It should have hit him.

His hands rested on the spot near his shoulder where the knife should have been, but there was nothing, not even a scratch. He glanced back, confused, and spotted the knife resting a few feet away. Something had knocked it off-course.

Klaus. Klaus had knocked it off course.

From the corner of his eye, he could see his brother smiling at him, giving him a thumbs-up. Diego wanted to roll his eyes at him, but he found himself feeling strangely proud, and his lips refused not to smile.

Eudora stepped out of the cruiser just in time to brush against the next knife, which came close enough to her head that Diego could swear he saw a few strands of hair falling to the ground.

Klaus took the opportunity to try and take her off guard, but she turned around at the last second, and he stopped.

For a moment, Diego wasn’t quite sure why. He had the perfect opening now - she was facing him, and she was still - he could probably knock her out with one punch if he was lucky. But then he realized that she wasn’t reacting, and Klaus… Klaus was strangely still. Klaus was never still. It was the one thing their father could never criticize him on during combat training - he was always moving, even if it wasn’t so much strategy as it was his general personality.

She backed away, and Klaus fell to the ground.

The knife Diego still had in his hands flew off its own accord, following a wobbly trajectory and just barely grazing the woman’s arm. She hardly flinched, though one hand moved to touch the wound before quickly dropping back to her side, a drop of blood falling from her fingers onto the grass.

Klaus was still on the floor, still unmoving.

Diego couldn’t see him, and he felt his heart stop for a moment. She’d had a knife, hadn’t she? She could’ve hurt him. She could’ve - 

Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself running towards her, more knives being drawn from his belt and thrown at her in a blind rage that would’ve had his father put him through twice as much training as usual. _Contain yourself, Number Two. Emotions cloud your judgement. _Yeah, right. Maybe if he hadn’t been such a cold bastard, none of this would be happening. Maybe they’d have been happy, normal people who just so happened to have extraordinary abilities. Maybe.__

____

Maybe Klaus would be alright.

Maybe he wouldn’t be laying on the floor, maybe - 

A shot rang out, and for a moment Diego thought it might be over. But Cal had Klaus in her arms, and she was running, zig-zagging in a way that made it almost impossible for him to orient his knives, and judging by the hole in a nearby tree, it made Eudora’s aim less than perfect, too.

She couldn’t outrun him while carrying Klaus, though, could she? She was nimble, quick on her feet, and his brother was worryingly light, but she hardly had a headstart, and - it had to be possible. He was quick, he wasn’t carrying anything, he could catch up. He could do this. All those years running up the stairs in his father’s drills might pay off, after all.

So he ran.

He ran faster than he could remember having ever run before, faster than when he wanted to beat Luther in a training exercise, faster than he ran when trying to prove himself at the Police Academy, faster than when he chased after a criminal that was getting away.

The distance between them was getting smaller.

Breathe in, breathe out.

His heart was racing.

She’d gotten lost in the trees now, but he could still hear her footsteps ahead. They were barely louder than his heartbeat in his ears.

One foot in front of the other.

His side was hurting.

Almost there, he could hear her, she was so close.

A flash of light, and he almost let out a relieved laugh. There, that was all he’d needed - he knew exactly where she was now. He had her, he just needed another second.

But she wasn’t there.

He couldn’t hear her anymore, and she was nowhere to be seen. She was gone, Klaus was gone, they were just… 

Gone.

Eudora found him in that same spot a few minutes later. HIs knees had given out, and they were now buried in the soft, wet earth, but he hadn’t moved otherwise. He was pretty sure he hadn’t. But then again, he supposed he wasn’t the authority on much at that moment - he wasn’t even sure for now long he’d been there. It felt like an eternity, but it also felt like no time at all, like it’d been a fraction of a second, and Klaus had been right there just a moment ago.

He still didn’t understand how he could be gone.

There were footprints in the wet soil, and they ended there. Diego was staring fixedly at the last of them, just a foot before him.

This shouldn’t be possible.

It shouldn’t, it shouldn’t - Klaus should be there. He hadn’t failed him, he’d caught up, he should be there. So why wasn’t he? Where he could possibly have disappeared to, where could Cal could possibly have taken him? Diego had looked up at the branches above him, he’d checked the immediate surroundings for any other footprint trails - there was nothing. It was like they’d just disappeared, and - 

He wasn’t sure whether what was running down his cheeks was rain or tears anymore.

Once upon a time, that would have bothered him. At that moment, he wasn’t sure whether he could even process being bothered anymore. If Eudora saw him like that, then… So be it.

He trusted her with his life, anyway.

“What happened?” She asked as she sat beside him, a worried frown on her face.

Diego wanted to tell her that she’d get dirt on her pants, but he couldn’t quite bring the words to leave his lips. It seemed like such a silly thing to be worried about when someone had just whisked his brother away.

It shouldn’t be possible.

“I don’t - he’s… He’s g - “ He let out a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut.

A hand carefully touched his shoulder, and he felt himself tensing before relaxing. It was just Eudora. He wasn’t very touch-oriented, that was Klaus’ thing, it always had been, but he didn’t mind it when it was her. She almost managed to make him feel better. _Almost._

“He’s gone.” He swallowed, and suddenly he was pretty sure that what he felt on his cheeks wasn’t just rain anymore. When had the rain gotten so warm? “I don’t k - know - it shouldn’t - she just disappeared. There was a flash and then she was just g - gone. It shouldn’t be possible, it shouldn’t be possible.”

  


* * *

  


Diego remembered losing Ben.

He remembered losing Five, too.

With Five it’d been different - none of them had known they’d never see him again. They’d all figured that he’d be back sooner or later, and they’d waited. They’d waited a day, then two, then three, then a week, which turned into a month, which turned into two, then three. It was right around then that it started to sink in that he was truly gone. Not that their father hadn’t called him lost after less than a week.

Ben… Ben’s death had been a lot more traumatic. It’d been the wakeup call they’d all needed, he supposed, to see where they were all headed. He cursed himself every day for the fact that it’d taken one of them dying violently and far too young for him to see it.

Maybe he could have gotten Ben out before things went that way. Maybe he could have gotten them all out before their father could sink his claws into them as deeply as he had. Savior complex, Klaus had once called it as he’d laid drunk and barely conscious on Diego’s couch. Diego had told him to shut up and sleep it off, but the words had stuck with him more than he’d been willing to admit.

Savior complex.

Well, he supposed maybe it had something to do with the fact that he could never save the ones who mattered to him. Not even Klaus.

Eudora had caved and helped him search the woods for several hours before he finally gave up and let her drive him home. He’d expected her to take him back to his room at the back of the gym, but instead she’d taken him to her place, where she strictly instructed him to take a shower and get into bed while she made them some dinner.

The house still smelled of pancakes, and he nearly threw up.

It was nine o’clock in the night when she finally managed to get him tucked in bed with a slice of toast and butter for dinner. He was exhausted, but he didn’t want to sleep. Not when Cal had Klaus somewhere, the brother he’d promised to protect, the brother he’d failed to protect, and dammit, he’d promised him that he’d find him, no matter what.

He couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.

“I’m thinking tomorrow we can look for security cameras around the area. I mean, some CCTV has got to have gotten a glimpse of her leaving with Klaus, right? Then we can -“

Eudora interrupted him with a shake of her head. “Diego, I want to find him, I do. But you need to get some sleep. We both do. So we can go over this tomorrow, alright?”

A laugh nearly left his lips at that. It occurred to him, with a painful twinge in his heart, that if Klaus were there, he would have laughed. But anger always overtook him faster than it did his brother, and his anger wouldn’t let him laugh. His anger was more interested in yelling and painful comments, in punching the nearest punchable thing. Not Eudora, never Eudora. But the mattress… The mattress could handle the brunt of his anger.

“Tomorrow? Who knows what will have happened to him tomorrow, Eudora? I mean, this is Klaus, he - “

“He can take care of himself, Diego.”

“What? He’s - “

“I know you see him like a little brother, and I know that I don’t know him like you do, I know…” She let out a sigh, shaking her head. “I know it’s not really my place to say this, but someone has to before you run yourself into the ground. He trained with you, didn’t he? He went on the same missions as you. He’s not helpless. He’s survived out there on his own for years, and I - I’ve seen him fight, Diego. I mean, sure, he’s not exactly the most conventional fighter out there, but that works in his favor, he… He thinks outside the box.”

A small, sad chuckle left Diego’s lips. “Not sure he even knows there’s an inside of the box.”

Eudora reciprocated the chuckle.

“He’s in a bad situation, I’m not saying he isn’t. And he needs our help, he does. But you’ve got to remember he’s not helpless, either. And you’re not going to be of any use to him if you’re completely sleep deprived, so finish your food and get some sleep.”

She was right. She was right, of course - she usually was when it came to things like this.

There was a part of him that felt somewhat guilty as he closed his eyes to go to sleep and his mind slowly came to the realization that Eudora had been nudging him in the right direction with this since the moment she showed up at his door and told him that Klaus was in the hospital. She had a tendency to do that - it was one of the things that had eventually led to their breakup, and he hadn’t been able to see it then, but there was a small part of him that could acknowledge it now.

Maybe he should have been able to handle this better without her help. After all, hadn’t he been trained for this? It wasn’t even the first time that something like this happened - they’d all been through something similar in one mission or another. But this time he was on his own, and this time it wasn’t a mission, and - dammit, Klaus was in danger and there was no help coming. His father and Pogo wouldn’t be helping them orchestrate a rescue mission, his mother wouldn’t be offering them support, his siblings wouldn’t be shooting ideas back and forth and fighting with him on the field, fighting tooth and nail to save their missing brother.

It was just him, and he’d always thought that would be good. There was no Number One to bark orders at him, no siblings to get in the way, no backs he had to watch, no liabilities. He was good at what he did, and he always thought he’d be much better off alone.

He never thought it’d be so lonely. So frightening.

But he wasn’t alone, he told himself. Eudora had his back, and she was right, Klaus wasn’t helpless. Wherever he was… Maybe he was working on a way to get back himself.


	9. A Familiar Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a minute!
> 
> Sorry this update is so late, I got super busy with university and other life stuff, but I'm back now with a new chapter and another one already halfway done! Once again, I'd love to hear theories, comments, or really anything you guys have to say about the new chapter and the story in general :)

It was a strange experience, waking up after something terrible had happened.

For a few, blissful moments, it felt as though everything were alright. In the mist of semi-consciousness, everything seemed just fine - his mind only craved a few more minutes of sleep, while his stomach grumbled for more food. He groaned slightly and rolled over, wishing to fall back asleep, but something was nagging at him in the back of his mind, intruding upon his peace.

Something was wrong. He remembered that.

He remembered a fitful sleep, he remembered rolling in bed for quite a while before finally succumbing to sleep, he remembered the feeling of dread and that sinking sensation in his stomach that, thanks to years and years in the Academy, only came with something truly big.

And then he remembered.

Klaus.

His bother’s limp body cradled in that woman’s arms as she ran off with him, Diego racing through the forest, jumping over roots and fallen trees, following a vague figure ahead of him and the sound of her footsteps, plus the trail she left in the mud on the ground. That clearing, impossibly empty. He remembered everything.

All of a sudden, he wished he’d just let it lie for a few more minutes.

But he knew that this wasn’t like with Five or Ben. Klaus wasn’t beyond his reach, and he wasn’t dead yet. No, the Commission, whatever they were, had wanted him alive. They’d be keeping him that way at least until they got whatever they wanted, and if there was something that he knew that Klaus was good at, it was stalling. Stalling, and being an impossibly stubborn prick. He’d be giving them a run for their money, and…

He pictured him tied up in some dimly-lit backroom, and he hated the fact that he’d been in enough of those situations that he could imagine it so vividly. He could conjure up the smell, he could hear his brother’s breathing and -

No.

There was no reason to think that that was what had happened to Klaus, right? Maybe everything was okay. Or maybe not okay, but as well as it could be given the circumstances. Maybe he was having a nice breakfast in some hotel room while Cal or someone else tried to talk him into doing something or telling them something. Maybe he wasn’t scared, maybe he was right in his element - talking, it’d always been talking.

That thought made the nausea he’d started to feel subside a little.

Diego got up to find Eudora already awake in the living room, a map of the city spread open over the coffee table, markers of every color strewn over the couch and the floor. If he didn’t know better, Diego would’ve thought that Klaus was responsible for that.

“What happened to getting some sleep so we can more useful to Klaus?” Diego asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Eudora rolled her eyes, and he could see that she was just as exhausted as he felt, even if he was perhaps a little more rested than her. “I did sleep.” She argued. “I woke up a few hours ago and I figured I might as well get to work.”

Stifling a yawn, Diego made his way to kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee that he figured Eudora had probably made when she’d gotten up. It was cold and he nearly gagged as he took a sip, but at the moment, he wasn’t too concerned with taste. It’d keep him awake just fine no matter whether it was hot or cold.

“So you slept what, one, maybe two hours?” Diego offered, just a hint of a smirk in his lips.

She shrugged, then let out a sigh. “Look, are we gonna argue about sleep or are we gonna try to track down your brother? I already called in sick at the station, so we’ve got the whole day to work on this. You know how it is, the first forty-eight hours are the most crucial, so let’s try to find him before the clock runs out on that.”

There was a small frown on his face as he sat down next to her on the couch. She’d seemed so calm the previous night, but now… He knew her well enough to know when she was trying her best to stay grounded, to keep herself functioning because she was needed for something, and this - this was textbook Eudora. And he wished, he really wished that they had the time to sit down and talk about it - he also wished that he knew how to do that, because every time he tried he never seemed to be able to get the words out if he even figured out what to say, and Klaus just made it look so _easy_ \- but she was right. They had no time to lose.

“This here, in the blue circle, that’s the park.” She explained. “I’m thinking you’re right, we can check the CCTV of the surrounding stores, see if any of them caught a glimpse of them. There’s a whole side of the street that borders the park, though, and there’s no stores there, no way for us to track their movement, and… I’m sorry, Diego.”

She let out a sigh and ran a tired hand over her face. Diego frowned.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. And… There’s still the other side, right? So we’ve got a chance. Sooner or later, she’s got to have ended up somewhere we can see her. It’ll be a bit of work, but with some luck, we’ll spot her.” Diego offered.

Eudora shook her head. “No, I mean… I’ve been thinking, Diego, and if I hadn’t backed your brother’s idea, none of this would have happened. I still think it was the best plan we had, but I - I’m sorry it turned out like this. Maybe we should have taken a bit longer to prepare, or maybe we shouldn’t have jumped on the first idea that came up, I… I’m so sorry, Diego.”

“‘Dora, I know you never meant for any of this to happen, alright? It’s not your fault. Just… Let’s get him back, okay?”

She smiled slightly and nodded.  


  


* * *

There was still something weighing heavily on her as they worked, but Diego found that easy enough to ignore, for there was something weighing heavily on him, too. Every minute that passed was one more minute that Klaus spent in Cal’s clutches, and it was getting increasingly hard to forget that. He thought, somehow, that they would be closer to something as the day turned into night and businesses began to close, but all they had was a list with dozens of names struck out, and not a single tape of evidence.

She couldn’t possibly have avoided all of them, could she?

They’d chosen where they would fight her. She couldn’t have known it would be that park, she couldn’t have studied the location of all securities cameras in the surrounding blocks. Sure, they still had some ground to cover, but they’d be fanning out quite a bit if they continued their search that way.

Diego wasn’t sure that it was worth it.

“Hey, I’m gonna go ahead and take a shower.” Eudora announced as they got back to her apartment. “Why don’t you go ahead and order us some food? There’s takeout menus in the bottom drawer. I’m gonna call some friends at the precinct later, see if they found something on this Commission. That’s our best lead right now.”

Their best lead, and yet they knew nothing about them. Diego figured that someone at the precinct would have had some information on hand when she called. If they were some kind of organization that went around killing and kidnapping people, it made sense that the police would know something, right? They had to have bumped into them before. Or maybe the only people who lived to tell anyone about them were those with surprise superpowers.

Diego nodded, running a hand through his hair as he thought. He wasn’t sure where to start looking, what other path they could take with their investigation. If she hadn’t been caught in any security cameras, they had no way to tracking her down specifically. If they didn’t know what the Commission was, they couldn’t track them down, either. That meant they needed to learn more about them, but how? No library would have mentions of them, and they didn’t know anyone connected to it.

Maybe, he thought, one of Klaus’ friends might have heard something - his brother had a way of knowing people that he’d never really understood. But without Klaus there, that was a dead end, too.

Somehow, they must have heard of his brother, so that might be a good place to start. Figuring out how they knew of him and why they wanted him might just be their way in.

He flipped absentmindedly through takeout menus while Eudora showered, and by the time the sound of the shower died out, he was still staring at one of the first menus in the pile - that same Mexican restaurant he’d taken his brother to eat just a few days before. He knew he was supposed to be reading the menu and placing an order somewhere, but his mind couldn’t help but go over the events of the last few days time and time again, all while trying to figure out how things had gotten so complicated, how they could have gone so terribly wrong.

It wasn’t the sound of Eudora gently asking him what he’d ordered that brought him out of his thoughts. Instead, it was a strangely familiar sound, yet one that seemed almost alien by now, like something out of a long-lost memory.

The first time it happened, it had Diego glancing over at Eudora’s room with a puzzled expression. The second time, it made him jump to his feet and carefully inch his way towards it.

It didn’t happen again.

What he found, though, made him quickly forget about the sound, quickly quit any attempts at figuring out what it might be, or from where he could possibly know it.

Klaus was back.  


  


* * *

His brother was laying unconscious on the bed. He seemed thinner and paler than usual, somehow, but otherwise fine, and Diego let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. Somewhere deep in his mind, he’d been sure that Klaus would be hurt, that when he found him he’d be beaten and bloody, as he’d been far too many times when he’d found him hiding in some back alley.

But he was mostly fine, and in one piece, and -

How the hell had he even gotten there?

The window was locked, as was the front door, and sure, Klaus knew how to pick a lock, but he couldn’t have done that with the window, and he’d been right across from the door the whole time - there was no way that Klaus could have picked the lock, opened the door, walked in, closed the door behind him, made his way to the bedroom and passed out on Eudora’s bed without Diego noticing a thing.

Could Klaus teleport now?

That, Diego decided, would be giving him far too much power. No store would ever be safe again - his newfound ability to move things with his mind was already toeing that line.

Eudora seemed to have just realized what was going on, and she was by Klaus’ side in a second, two fingers on his neck as she tried to find a heartbeat. A small sigh escaped her lips and she relaxed. Good, his brother was alive. Alive and breathing, by the steady rise and fall of his chest.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he managed to keep himself standing. His knees wanted to give out, they were telling him that everything was okay now, that he could relax, that everything would be just fine. Somehow, though, he managed to make his way over to the bed and sit down next to Klaus, hands trembling, breathing slightly unsteady. He couldn’t believe it, he just couldn’t believe it.

“He’s okay.” Eudora assured him, moving to take a seat beside him.

Diego nodded. “I know. I know, it’s just - “ A small sigh left his lips, and he ran a tired hand over his face. The panic that he’d been feeling over the past day was slowly melting away, giving way to exhaustion and the sinking realization that he’d nearly lost his brother.

Things could have been so, so much worse.

He’d always known what could happen, but he hadn’t let himself feel it. He couldn’t, he couldn’t deal with saving his brother and his emotions at the same time - panic had been the main driving force to get him up and moving, but beyond that… He hadn’t time for that. Now that he did, he felt like something was crushing his chest, and he was tired. So, so tired. Part of him just wanted to lay down in bed next to his brother and sleep.

There was still one thing keeping him going, though.

“How did he get here, Eudora?” He asked, frowning.

It was the question that had been nagging at his mind since the moment he’d gotten confirmation that his brother was alive, and it was the question that wouldn’t let him rest. Something was wrong there, potentially very, very wrong.

If this Cal person had managed to disappear with his brother, then what was to say that she couldn’t somehow get him into the bedroom without anyone noticing? What if his return was a trap somehow - what if Eudora was in danger? What if Klaus was _still_ in danger? Maybe it was paranoia brought on by far too many years as a vigilante and a superhero, but it seemed just about right for those circumstances.

“I don’t know, Diego. I swear the bedroom was empty when I left the shower, but it’s not like I was looking for anything off. Maybe he snuck in while I was in the bathroom.” She suggested.

Diego didn’t buy it.

“Should we wake him up? Something about this just… Doesn’t feel right. I’d have seen him if he walked in the front door, and the window is locked - it just doesn’t add up.”

“Maybe you missed him. We’re both tired, and really, how else would he have gotten here, Diego? Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one.” Eudora’s voice was tired, he noted, and he wondered whether she’d be so quick to dismiss his worries if she weren’t exhausted. If they weren’t _both_ exhausted.

Diego frowned, took a moment to consider his next action, then he shook his head. “Screw that. I’m waking him up.”

Eudora, however, moved to place a hand on his shoulder and stop him standing up. “Diego, don’t. He looks like he needs to rest. I know you want answers, and you’ll have them, just… Let him sleep.”

Diego stared at his brother’s face, at the bags under his sleeping eyes, at the cheeks that seemed even less full than before, at the -

Wait.

He’d seen his brother in what he was sure were all possible levels of disarray, from the immaculate image that their father had them maintain to - well, he wasn’t quite sure what time to cite as the one where he’d seen his brother most disheveled. He did know, though, what it tended to look like, and he also knew that Klaus cared about his appearance, about his self-expression, perhaps far more than any of them. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d seen his brother without makeup since the day they’d left the Academy. The level of smudginess of his eyeliner and mascara was one of the greatest tools Diego used to determine how far into a bender his brother was, and now…

This was new. This was new and worrisome and once again, it just didn’t make sense.

He’d seen his brother yesterday. Klaus had had plenty of time before breakfast to fix his makeup, and he was sure that he’d have taken it. Unless someone had removed it completely, there should still be signs of it. There always were.

“He can go back to sleep when we’ve got our answers.” Diego argued, standing up and making his way around the bed to where his brother was sleeping. He’d wake him up, they’d have a little chat, and Klaus would go right back to sleep. No harm done, right?

But as he stood there, he just couldn’t bring himself to bring him out of what looked like a very peaceful sleep - and it was so rare for him to see him so calm, so… Happy, even. Klaus’ dreams were usually plagued by nightmares, enough so that it wasn’t easy to sleep when he crashed at his place. And yet now he seemed to be getting some much needed rest, and how could he interrupt these few peaceful moments of sleep?

He looked so tired, so… Still. Diego wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen his brother so perfectly still, not even in hospital rooms with far too many things hooked up to him. No matter how bad it was, he was almost inevitably awake and chattering away, even when it was audible in his voice that it was strain on him.

Suddenly, Diego realized that he was scared.

Klaus had pulled through more than he’d have thought humanly possible, but what if this was the time he couldn’t? He’d already seemed far weaker than Diego had ever seen him at the hospital just days before. He’d seemed to recover over the next day, but what if he hadn’t? Could his body really take this much stress? It wasn’t as if Klaus treated it kindly - it really amazed Diego that his brother wasn’t sick more often.

He must’ve been sitting there in silence for a quite a few minutes, for the next thing he knew, Eudora was gently pushing him to stand up and guiding him out of the room.

She was right, he told himself.

They could wait until Klaus woke up by himself. They’d have their answers then.


	10. Griddy's Donuts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the reviews for the last chapter! This one is a fairly big one, so I hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think, any predictions for the next chapter - you know, the usual!

There were boxes upon boxes of takeout on the coffee table, and yet most of them remained untouched.

Eudora had thought it prudent to order copious amounts of food, and Diego had to admit that she probably had a point - neither one of them had eaten very well over the past few days, and Klaus was bound to be hungry once he woke up. No, they probably wouldn’t be able to go through all of that food, but considering their exhausted, starved and sleep deprived states, it was probably best to have some extra food laying around. They could always have the rest as leftovers.

They must have nodded out a little after they’d stopped eating, Diego figured, though he couldn’t quite remember falling asleep. One moment he’d been tiredly contemplating whether to turn on the TV, and the next he was blinking his eyes open, staring at his brother’s face mere inches from his own.

Klaus.

Before he knew what he was doing, Diego was jumping up from his seat, eyes wide, jostling Eudora enough to cause her to grumpily push away from him and open her eyes. All grumpiness left her, though, as her eyes fell on Klaus, replaced instead by a concern that would be mirrored on Diego’s expression were he not incredibly relieved to find his brother awake.

“You’re awake.” He pointed out, not quite able to fight off the smile that began to form on his lips.

Klaus took a small step back, and Diego felt worry creeping back onto his features as he realized that surprise - shock, even - was the only emotion on his brother’s face. No happiness, not even that excessive cheerfulness that he never really understood but which was so often there.

Something was wrong.

He could feel it, he could feel it like he felt it when someone was missing from whatever emergency call he intercepted, hiding, laying in wait for the right moment to strike. He could feel it like they all felt it when a mission they were working wasn’t quite as straightforward as they’d like it to be, when something was _off_. A quick glance at Eudora told him that she felt it, too, and he trusted her gut about as much as he trusted his own.

Something was wrong.

“Diego?” Klaus asked, cocking his head to the side, as if he were trying to find a different angle from which to assess his brother. “It’s really you?”

Slowly, Diego stood up.

“Yeah, it’s me. You uh - did they give you something?”

Eudora kicked him lightly in the calf, but he ignored her. Yeah, Klaus wouldn’t like being asked about that, he never did. It always seemed to annoy him, justified as the question might be - and Klaus had long since admitted that the question was, indeed, justified. He wouldn’t like it, but Diego had to know. He had to know what he was working with there, he had to know what Klaus was going through, whether they should be worried or if it’d pass.

More than anything, he wanted to know that Klaus was okay. By Klaus standards, anyway.

“What?” Klaus asked, and Diego pushed past his instinctive irritation with a slight frown. Usually, when his brother said that, it was with poorly feigned ignorance. This time, though… This time he actually believed him. But before Diego could find it in himself to string together a sentence from all the different brands of worry floating in his mind, Klaus seemed to connect the dots, and he shook his head. “Oh, no, no - I’m clean! So… Surprise!”

There it was, that trademark ‘Klaus’ cheeriness that didn’t quite convince him of anything, but which at least gave him some indication that his brother was okay. He could work with that, he told himself, he just had to -

Before he could say anything, Klaus continued. “Oh, yeah, must be…” He glanced to his side for a moment and nodded. “Yeah, ninety days now. Woohoo!”

Diego frowned. Ninety days? Yeah, right. Three days, at the most, and he still wasn’t convinced of that. In his experience, the moment he took his eyes off him, he found a way to take something. It was uncanny.

For once, though, Diego didn’t want to argue. He didn’t want to point out that this was a flimsy lie, at best, he didn’t want to ask him how stupid he thought that he and Eudora were, he didn’t want to ask him why he felt the need to always lie to them. No, this time, he was going to let it slide. They had bigger to fry, he told himself, and really, he was just glad that his brother was home.

“I’m sure it felt that way.” He sighed, running a hand over his face. And that, he told himself, was all he was going to say on the subject.

“No, it - “

“ _Doesn’t matter._ ” Diego insisted, his voice strongly suggesting that this should be the end of that conversation.

Klaus took the smallest of steps back, bowing his head slightly. For a moment, Diego almost felt bad, but… This was better, right? He told himself that it was. If he let Klaus continue, it’d just turn into an argument, and the last thing he wanted was for his brother to head back out onto the streets after everything that they’d gone through - everything that _he’d_ gone through. And he knew Klaus, he knew him well enough to know that he would storm out. It was what he always did when he got too upset, and some of their arguments had a way of upsetting him that Diego doubted he’d ever understand.

“Are you okay? How did - how did you even get back?” He asked, deciding that shifting the focus to something else was probably the best idea.

Or maybe not.

A frown formed on Klaus’ face, and he took another step back, confusion morphing into fear. It wasn’t long before the confusion was mirrored on Diego’s face.

“You didn’t… You didn’t come for me?” He asked, arms shakily crossing over his chest.

“We tried, we - we couldn’t find you, Klaus.” Diego shook his head. “But it’s only been a day, and we thought - “

Klaus made a sound between a scoff and a laugh of utter disbelief, and Diego wasn’t quite sure how to react - they’d looked, they’d looked as far as they could for a day. He’d been planning on resuming his search bright and early the next day, and invested as she’d been, Diego was sure that Eudora would have been right by his side. Had Klaus been somewhere really obvious? Had he given them some kind of clue that they missed? His newfound powers opened up some possibilities, things for which he wasn’t used to looking out. Maybe he _had_ missed something.

“A day?” Klaus shook his head, a hand moving to cover his mouth. “A day? You really expect me to believe that? Oh, I always knew you thought I was an idiot, _bro_ , but this? Wow.”

Diego raised an eyebrow at his brother, not really knowing how to react. It’d been a day, give or take a few hours. Maybe it’d felt like longer for Klaus, but if he wasn’t sure, would he really be making accusations like this? Not everything that he said always made sense - in fact, there were times Diego was pretty sure that most of it _didn’t_ , but in the end, Klaus was… Oh, he hated to admit it, but Klaus was _nice_. The kindest of all of them, really, save perhaps for Ben, but who knew who Ben would be these days? That wasn’t to say that he didn’t know first-hand that Klaus was absolutely capable of being cruel, or that wasn’t known for lying, but Klaus’ lies usually served a purpose, even if that purpose was simply to get attention, and his own personal brand of cruelty tended to involve their dead brother, not senseless accusations.

Was this really all a ploy to get attention?

It just didn’t seem to make sense. He had all the attention he could want - he had new powers, something called ‘the Commission’ after him, and he’d just reappeared from out of nowhere after being captured and missing for a day.

“Klaus, it - it’s been a day.” He argued, unable to think of anything that would make sense out of this.

Eudora came to his aid just as he turned to ask her to back him up. “I think… Just a little over twenty-four hours. Less than a day an a half.”

That seemed to give Klaus pause.

He frowned, arms crossing and uncrossing a few times before he finally settled for making his way to the armchair and perching on the back. “No, no.” He shook his head, running a hand over his face. “It can’t - it was weeks, Diego. It has to have been weeks, I - “ He swallowed, wringing his hands as he paused for a moment. “I couldn’t see the outside where I was, but I know it was longer than that. They brought me food, it was… Eighty-nine meals. That’s what I remember. And they said I was out for days, too.”

Eighty-nine meals. He couldn’t possibly have eaten that in the time he was gone, not even if they assumed that this Commission was determined to get him to gain some weight.

And he’d lost weight, too.

Could he really have gotten so noticeably thinner in just over a day?

“I don’t…” It was Diego’s turn to shake his head, frowning. “I don’t understand. How is any of this possible? Klaus, what did they do to you while you were there? How did you even get back? One moment you were gone and the next I see you asleep on Eudora’s bed.”

Klaus slowly eased onto the seat of the armchair, curling up on it with more care than he’d ever seen his brother have. He was stalling, Diego was sure of it, but he let him have the extra time without pressure. _Give him time_ , he remembered Eudora saying at some point, after some argument he’d had with Klaus. _Give him time, and he’ll talk to you_.

“They… They were interested in my power. Or uh… Powers, I guess. They - it was like something out of a movie, Diego. They - they had these rooms. You know, clinical, but with reinforced glass, a sound system, the whole shebang. And they… I guess they wanted to know what I could do. Find my limits and whatnot. They asked me to move things, conjure people, it was - it was like Dad, really. Except without, you know, the okay parts. Mom. Sneaking out to stuff our faces in donuts. Ooh, donuts! Do you think we could go out to get some donuts? I’m _starving_.”

“What? Klaus, are you seriously thinking about food right now?” Diego asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Klaus just gave him his best set of puppy-dog eyes, ones that he was sure his brother had developed for the sole purpose of manipulating him specifically (and maybe Allison, too) because their father was never swayed by anything even remotely emotional, their mother’s programing made any attempt at extortion unnecessary, Luther and Five would hardly be persuaded like that, and Vanya… Vanya was distant. Maybe it’d work on her, but there was hardly ever any opportunity to try. Oh, and there was Ben, too. This might have worked on Ben. Their brother was cynical, sure, but he was also far more in touch with his feelings than most of them, and he did have a soft spot for Klaus.

The puppy eyes persisted, and Diego grunted out his agreement. It was probably a good idea to get some food in him, he could hardly remember the last time he’d seen him looking so malnourished - and that was quite a feat considering the state his brother was usually in.

“Fine. C’mon, let’s go.” He said, pushing himself off the couch and nodding towards the door.

Klaus happily jumped to his feet and sauntered over to the exit, a smile on his lips.

It was amazing, really, how often Klaus managed to mooch food out of him - really, Diego ate better when his brother was around than when he wasn’t. And there was something about the way that he asked that made Diego think that he knew that he was going to agree all along, no matter how many times he said no - and he always did in the end, didn’t he? Klaus was always far too thin, far too pale, and he couldn’t simply deny to feed him, no matter how much he wished that his brother would just get his life together. Denying him food wouldn’t push him towards that, Diego had certainly tried it enough times to know that. It’d just leave him with an empty belly for yet another night.

“But don’t think you’re getting out of telling us exactly what happened. You tell us on the way or it’s no donuts for you.” Diego said as he opened the door, gesturing with his keys for emphasis.

“Diego - “ Eudora started, glancing worriedly at Klaus.

Klaus, however, interrupted her with a loud sigh, one of his more discreet - which wasn’t saying much - eye rolls and a nod of agreement. “Fine, fine.”

A few moments later, they were in the car, heading towards Griddy’s donuts. It wasn’t the nearest bakery, and possibly not even the best donuts - it was hard to tell when he was so partial to Griddy’s - but he knew that they both loved the place, and the memories they had of there… Well, maybe he was feeling a little nostalgic after a whole day of thinking he may have lost another brother.

“C’mon, buddy, time to start talking.” Diego prompted after a long moment of silence as they drove down the road, and the words felt strangely foreign in his mouth. Usually, he was begging Klaus to shut up - no matter what happened, nothing seemed to make his brother go quiet.

Nothing but this, apparently.

There was a pause, and Diego was starting to grow worried when Klaus spoke up again.

“Well, it all started on a sunny day, October 1st, 1989. Or maybe it was rainy. Ooh, maybe it was snowy! I don’t know, I wasn’t there. Well, I was, technically, but - “

“Klaus - “

“I don’t really remember anything from that day. And Dad? It’s not like he’d ever tell us anything. But I like to think that it was a sunny day. Not that dear ol’ Mom will have enjoyed it much, right? I can’t imagine labor is fun when you’re waiting for it and you _actually_ want the baby, but when you’re willing to give it up to the first creepy rich guy that shows up at your door offering to take him off your hands?”

“Klaus!”

“I wonder how she tells that story. Maybe she doesn’t tell it at all. Would you? I’m not sure I would. But then again, I wouldn’t give the baby up. I think. I’ve never had a baby. But if I did, it wouldn’t be to Sir Reginald Hargreeves, industrialist, inventor, Olympic gold medalist - isn’t that what Mom used to say? Of course, she always left out professional _prick_. I mean, there must have been a better option, right?”

He wasn’t sure why he didn’t stop Klaus sooner. Maybe it was because everything that he was saying just made a lot of sense, even if it didn’t really connect to anything, even if it was just rambling. Maybe it was because he’d thought about this before, and then stopped himself from ever going there again. But he was stopping him now, swerving out of traffic and pulling into the nearest free parking spot. Startled, Klaus stopped his rant for a moment, giving Diego a puzzled look (and he’d never, ever understand how his brother managed to be so puzzled when he was reacting in what he was sure would be the way most people would react to him).

“Klaus, stop it! You know what I’m asking about, so you start talking or this trip to Griddy’s is cancelled.”

“You’re taking me to Griddy’s?” There was a bit of a tightness in Klaus’ voice that made Diego soften for a second, but he closed his eyes, reminded himself of how utterly _impossible_ his brother could be, and his resolve returned soon enough.

“Not if you don’t start talking, I’m not.”

There was a pause, and he heard Klaus slump back on his seat before sitting up again and lightly hitting the back of his seat with the base of his fists.

“I don’t know, Diego! I - I woke up, and I was in this… This clinical room. Kind of like a cell, like… Like solitary, except bigger and with better lighting and brighter walls. Cleaner, too. But the bed, the toilet…” He shook his head, letting out a sigh. “Then this woman came in. Tall, blonde - really blonde. She said… She said I could be an asset to this organization, this… Commission. That I - I did something. I caught their attention. And they were going to eliminate me - fun times - but then I surprised them by doing something they didn’t know I could do. And she thought I could be useful. She said uh - she said she’d written off my abilities as too erratic, but that with something else in the pot, she thought it might be worth training me. And then she left. She left, and they just started to put me in these - these test rooms every day, trying to get me to move things and conjure ghosts and let me tell you, they don’t have _any_ sense of humor.”

There was a long silence as Diego took in everything that he had to say, Eudora having seemingly resigned herself to being a mere spectator of their conversation. It wasn’t for her to interfere, Diego figured, and she could feel that. She’d always been better at this kind of stuff than him.

And then, finally, he spoke again. “And did you?”

Klaus scooted forward, frowning. “Did I what?”

“Do all that stuff. Conjure ghosts, move stuff.”

“Of course not! C’mon, DIego, you know… You know I can’t. I never could, Dad - he spent years trying to get me to learn to control all these things, and I - I just can’t. And even if I could, I don’t know them, I don’t - c’mon, I’m not that stupid, Diego. How could you even ask me that?”

“Then how did you get back, Klaus? If they weren’t happy with you, if they weren’t done with whatever it is that they wanted to do to you, then how are you back? Don’t lie to me, Klaus, I know - ”

“You know what? That I’m - I’m weak? Is that what you’re thinking? I could always hear you, you know? When you were planning your missions and you always, always left me out of things. I was always the lookout, always… Unreliable Klaus, with the useless power. And you know what? You were right. You were right. My power is completely useless and I - I know my own track record. I know I let you guys down, I know I - I know, okay? But dammit, couldn’t you just - couldn’t you just talk to me? Instead of acting like I’m an idiot who doesn’t know what’s going on around him?”

“You don’t - “

“You know what, Diego? I don’t think I’m very hungry anymore, I’m just gonna - yeah, I’m gonna go.”

Before Diego could get a word out, his brother was all but rolling out of the car, catching himself on the door and glancing over at his side, whispering something that sounded very much like ‘shut up’.

A sigh left Diego’s lips, and he considered for a moment just letting him go. That was usually best when it came to Klaus - his brother had a temper that he’d never really understood, and while he wasn’t usually quick to anger, when he did it was usually over things that to Diego just made no sense. But this time… This time was different. He wasn’t angry, he was just - disappointed. And that was new. There’d been such a quiet sadness to him, a lack of his usual exuberance, and somehow that made him feel like this time wasn’t quite like the others.

So instead of letting him go, Diego opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk, watching for a moment as Klaus had a hushed argument with what appeared to be a tree, though he was standing rather far from it to have such a silent argument with it.

Then again, he was talking to a tree, so Diego supposed that the distance or volume of his conversation was probably the lesser concern.

“Klaus, we all did crappy things when we were kids, we didn’t - “ Diego let out a sigh and closed his eyes, shaking his head. “We didn’t mean to hurt you, alright? We were just trying to keep you safe. Come on, man, you know you couldn’t have handled the action.”

“That’s not the point, Diego.” Klaus’ voice was tired, and he didn’t glance over at his brother, keeping his eyes fixed on a crack on the sidewalk.

“What do you want me to say here? That I’m sorry? It was years ago, it was a shitty situation, and - why are we even arguing about this? There’s some creepy lady who wants you to work for some kind of secret organization, do you really think this is best time to dig up stuff from our childhood? I swear, Klaus, I’m never going to understand what goes on in that head of yours.”

“I don’t want you to say anything, I’m just - why do you think I’d cave? Why do you immediately assume that if I say I didn’t, I’m lying? If - if any of the others told you that, you wouldn’t doubt them.” He let out a sigh and rested his head in his hands. “Just - just forget I said anything, okay? I’m just tired and… I think I’m just gonna go.”

Diego shook his head. “Go where, Klaus? Let’s just… Let’s just go to Griddy’s, okay? You get whatever you want, my treat. Come on, don’t run out on me again.”

Klaus shrugged. “I don’t know. Around. I always figure something out. Look, I - I”ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“No, no - Klaus, just stay. You know you never turn up when you say that, just - what do you want? We can go to that Mexican place, or - hey, how about waffles, huh?” Diego took a few steps towards his brother as he started to walk away, worried that he’d turn a corner and disappear - he had a knack for that that Diego would never understand.

Before he could catch up with his brother, though, a strangely familiar voice froze them both in place.

“Are you seriously discussing breakfast options right now?”


	11. Now Forgotten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, finals came around and ate away at my writing time, but here we are, back with a new chapter! They should be a little more steady now, especially since I've got the main plot points for the new few chapters mostly worked out.
> 
> I think this will answer a few questions, and as usual, I'd love to know what you guys are thinking!

It couldn’t be.

Could it?

No, that was insane. There was a limit to the amount of insanity a single person could have in their lives, right? The Commission, Klaus’ new powers, that was all just… Crazy, right? So there couldn’t be another added layer of crazy, or that would just -

But he wanted it to be true. He did. Of course he did.

So when he turned around and saw little Number Five standing on the sidewalk, glaring at them with a familiar stern look in his eyes, that look that suggested that he was so far above them that he wouldn’t hesitate to say that he _knew_ he was better than them, his heart soared. Sure, maybe Five had been a pain when they were younger - and he still was, from the look of things - and sure, maybe they hadn’t been particularly close, but Five was still his brother, he still loved him, and he was still glad to see him for the first time in so long.

Five.

Right there, looking just like his thirteen year old self, several, several years later. How was this possible? Was this when he’d jumped to that fateful night? Had he never gone back because something would happen soon, or had he just decided to stick around, get away from Reginald?

Or -

Klaus.

Klaus could conjure ghosts, right? As far as he knew, he couldn’t make them visible, but it wasn’t that much of a stretch of assume that he could. Their father was always saying that he hadn’t fully mastered his abilities - maybe this what he meant. Maybe Five was dead, and somehow Klaus was bringing him there.

That had to make more sense.

At least it explained why their brother had never made his way back to their present. He’d tried something far beyond anything that he’d ever done before, against even Reginald’s recommendations - and no one would ever say that Sir Reginald didn’t push them beyond their limits - and he hadn’t made it through the jump.

Why Klaus would be materializing Five now was anyone’s guess, but hey - it’s Klaus.

“Are you doing that?” Diego finally asked, looking between Klaus and little Number Five.

Klaus shrugged, then shook his head. “Uh - no, I don’t think so.” He glanced to his side, raised his eyebrows, then looked back at Diego. “No, no - I’m not.”

Number Five stepped forward, arms crossing over his chest. He was even in his old Umbrella Academy uniform, Diego noted, and that - well, if he wasn’t a ghost, then that had to mean that he’d come straight from that dinner, didn’t it?

“I’m not dead, Diego.” He sounded annoyed. Of course he did, as if Diego was supposed to know whether his brother who’d been missing since they were hardly teenagers was dead or alive. Dead was, painful as that might be to admit, the most likely option. “But the two of you will be if you don’t stop arguing, sit down and listen to what I have to say.”

Klaus, who was still staring at Five as though he’d seen a ghost - or rather, as though he’d seen something very surprising that was decidedly not a ghost, because Diego had seen how he reacted to seeing an actual ghost and it was very, very far from this - slowly obeyed, easing himself down on the sidewalk.

Diego let out a sigh, rolled his eyes and pulled Klaus back to his feet, ignoring the yelp of surprise and complaint that he received from his brother as he scrambled to get his balance. “Not here, you idiot. Get in the car.”

“Hey! What’s wrong with the sidewalk? It’s a perfectly good seat, thank you very much.” Klaus argued, letting out a huff of protest.

Diego dragged him back to the car and opened the back door, gesturing for him to get inside. Klaus rolled his eyes but complied, followed by an equally annoyed Five. It was, Diego remarked to himself, letting out a sigh, like he’d never left.

Once he got back into the driver’s seat, Diego was met with a very confused Eudora who’d apparently been half-briefed by Klaus - which was to say that she’d gotten a lot of very disconnected information plus several unnecessary side-notes and stories that overall added up to very little aside from confusion and mild concern. A typical Klaus briefing, then.

What Diego wasn’t about to admit was that he knew for a fact that when necessary, Klaus could rise to the occasion and be a pretty good leader - better than Luther, by his standards, though that wasn’t much of a competition.

“Eudora, meet Five, my brother. Yeah, that Five. No, I don’t know how he’s back, or why, but I’m sure he’s about to fill us all in. Any questions? No? Good. Five, proceed.”

That earned him a rather angry look from Eudora, and a light shove that was most certainly not playful, but he ignored it, instead leaning his head back against the seat, eyes falling closed. This was all just way too much, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take before his brain just came to a halt.

Five, at least, seemed rather pleased with his brief explanation, and he wasted no time in starting his own briefing.

“The people who are after Klaus are called the Commission - they’re my employers. Or my former employers now, I suppose. They won’t take kindly to what I did.” That made him pause for a moment, his brows creasing into something Diego was fairly sure was concern. “Klaus, you caught their eye when you decided to investigate the death of that girl. By doing that, you altered the timeline, and you had to be eliminated. They must have known who you were before that, but your powers are very erratic, I doubt they’d consider them worth training. But after you took down Cal like that - they were impressed. They thought maybe you could be trained. I - I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you. I wasn’t even aware they had you at HQ until you’d been there for two months already. After that, it was a matter of timing.”

There was a brief pause and that, Diego figured, was Five’s mistake, for before he could continue with his story, Klaus managed to break out of his wide-eyed, mouth agape, theatrical hands covering his cheeks mode for long enough to speak.

“You saved me?” He asked, and exaggerated as his tone might be, Diego was actually fairly certain that it was honest.

Five frowned for a moment, then nodded. “Of course. How did you think you’d gotten back?”

Klaus shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought maybe… Maybe they’d gotten tired of me, maybe they’d realized I’m useless - I don’t know.”

Five’s frown only deepened at that, and Diego was beginning to have the sinking feeling that there was something he was missing, something important. It was far from unusual for Klaus to only tell half the story, and Five had only just begun his explanation, so that, he figured was really quite likely.

“But you’re not useless, Klaus. Wait, you don’t remember?” Five asked, now turning to fully face Klaus.

Diego, who’d been watching them through the rearview mirror, twisted around in his seat so that he could look at them directly. There was a lot of confusion evident in Klaus’ face, but there was also something that he was pretty sure anyone who didn’t know him as well as he did might have missed - a hint of carefully suppressed panic, a skill that was courtesy of one Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

“Remember what?” Klaus urged him.

Five took a moment to reply, and Diego wondered whether he was actually considering how this would affect them. If so, then… Well, that was quite a lot of personal growth on his part.

“It took a long time, and plenty of persuasion from their end, but Klaus, you - you did it. All those things that Dad always said you could do, you did it, or at least you started to, and once you did it was like… It was like opening Pandora’s box. You’re capable of a lot more than you ever knew, Klaus, a lot more than any of us ever knew. I got you out of there as soon as I could after that - I should’ve done something sooner, but… You have no idea how much I risked just to bring you here today.”

Silence.

Klaus always had something to say, he always had a comment up his sleeve, a joke to crack, or some random anecdote that no one asked for and no one wanted to hear - he was never silent. But for a good five minutes after that revelation, he didn’t say a word. Diego had to watch closely just to make sure he was still breathing.

When he spoke again, it was in a voice so quiet, so defeated, that Diego couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“I - I broke?”

Five shook his head. “It’s not… It’s not like that, Klaus.”

“But I did what they wanted?”

“Not on purpose. Klaus, the Commission has ways of manipulating people that you couldn’t even imagine. I explained it all to you - how can you not remember?” There was a clear tone of annoyance in Five’s voice, and Diego was surprised to find that he had the sudden instinct to tell him to take it easy on Klaus.

“I just don’t, okay?” He slapped his hands down on the seat in a somewhat childish manner, then propped his elbows up on his knees and rested his head in his hands. Diego was fairly sure that he saw a few tears streaming down his face. It was much harder to tell, he noted, when Klaus wasn’t wearing any eyeliner. “I don’t remember that, I don’t remember any of this. Can we just - go home? I don’t think I want donuts anymore.”

Diego let out a sigh, and he shook his head. “You’ve gotta eat something, buddy. Tell you what, we’ll go to Griddy’s and we’ll get you a few donuts to go, huh?”

It was then that Eudora spoke up, unbuckling her seatbelt. “This is starting to seem like more of a family thing, so I’ll just go and grab those donuts, you guys can head back to my place. Diego, you know where the spare key is.”

Diego opened his mouth to protest, but he gave up on it pretty quickly. As much as Eudora’s presence was strangely comforting, she was right - this was more of a family thing. It wasn’t fair to ask her to stay, especially not when she must feel rather out of place. “Yeah, I remember.” He assured her.

“Good. I’ll see you guys in a few minutes.” And with that, she stepped out of the car, walking away as if she couldn’t wait to be out of that situation.

He didn’t blame her, really. Knowing him, she knew Klaus fairly well - his brother was a bigger part of his life than he was even willing to admit, and Eudora got mixed up in that often enough that he could see how Klaus might have unwittingly become a part of her circle of… Well, he wasn’t sure how exactly to define the role Klaus played in her life, but he was there.

Five, though?

A family reunion like that had to be awkward for an outsider. And if that weren’t enough, there was all the strangeness tacked onto that - the fact that Five still looked like his thirteen year old self, something he’d yet to hear an explanation for, plus everything that had happened with Klaus… The atmosphere in the car was more than charged.

It was only then that Five turned towards him, his face showing a minuscule amount of curiosity, as if whatever he was about to ask was more of an afterthought than anything. “Who is she?”

Right. It figures that Five wouldn’t much care about anything beyond his own microcosm. Some things, Diego thought to himself, never change. Then again, he wasn’t sure how much Five was expected to have changed, or how much he could have changed at all, because somehow at first glance not a second seemed to have passed since his dinner breakout - as much as he’d known over the years that Five was probably dead, as much as he’d proclaimed it loudly in an attempt to shatter any illusions his siblings had of their father, a point only Ben’s death seemed to really drive across, in his own thoughts, he indulged the idea that Five had simply run off, broken free of their father. He’d started to think of that night, even if unconsciously, as the day that Five broke free, rather than the day that he disappeared. It was silly, a comforting idea that treaded too close to letting himself forget what their father could do to them. And yet, it’d persevered.

“That’s Eudora, she’s a friend.” Diego explained.

Five raised an eyebrow at that. “What’s your friend doing in the middle of all this?”

“She’s - she’s helping, alright? She was with Klaus the second time Cal came around, she helped us prepare to take her on, and she was helping me look for him before he - before you brought him back.” If anyone said that his tone seemed defensive, Diego would deny it and throw a few choice retorts their way. The truth was, however, that he was most certainly feeling defensive.

“You should keep her out of this, it’s all far too dangerous.” Five argued, though his tone was a little too nonchalant to really support his argument.

Diego wasn’t sure what infuriated him the most - Five’s words or his tone. In the end, he decided that the answer was neither.

To his surprise, though, Klaus cut him off before he could speak. “Hey, that’s not fair - she’s probably the reason I’m still alive! She’s as good a fighter as any of us, minus a few uh… Handy superpowers.”

The slightest of smiles quirked up on Diego’s lips, but he quickly wiped it away, turning to fix a stern gaze on Five. “You got a problem with that, you bring it up with her.”

Five threw his hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine. I’m not the one who’s gonna get killed in the crossfire. Klaus, you be sure to let her know that you really stood up for her when you see her in the afterlife. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

At that, Diego nearly jumped over his seat to get to Five, a knife in hand. No, he wouldn’t do any lasting, serious damage - a scrape at most, it’d only sting a little and part of him might even feel bad about it later. He was spared that, however, by a telekinetic blast that stopped him from getting more than an inch off his seat.

There was a mix of anger and hurt in Klaus’ face that was becoming entirely too familiar, but Diego brushed past that, figuring that him and Five could work out their differences in their own time. Now, he wanted… Well, he wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted, but he knew that he was angry and confused and he had far too much on his plate and he wanted something. Something that would make it all go away, maybe. That would just be perfect.

He waited a moment, hoping that Klaus would step up and do the mature thing. It was a crazy expectation, he realized after a moment, considering Klaus’ track record, where stopping him from lightly injuring Five was probably among the most responsible decisions he’d ever made, but still, he waited. Klaus remained quiet, seeming to shrink further and further into his seat, and Diego let out a sigh. It seemed like he would have to be the grown-up this time.

“Five - “ He breathed out another sigh, shaking his head. He didn’t even know where to start. “Just tell us what’s going on here. How do you know this Commission, what - what happened after that dinner? Why do they want Klaus?”

Five seemed to mull on his reply for a moment, and Diego was just about to press for answers again when he finally spoke up. “I did it. I time travelled. I flipped through seasons like it was nothing, but when I tried a longer jump, I - I couldn’t get back. I spent about forty-five years there before the Commission came and decided to hire me. They’re time-travelers - not innately, but they have devices that allow them to time-travel. And their sole mission is to maintain the timeline, to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Whose plan I don’t know, but I can assure you that I take issue with their vision.” Bitterness laced his voice for a moment, but when he spoke again, it was gone. “To fix any deviations in the timeline, like Klaus deciding to follow up on a ghost’s murder, they have people like me and - Cal, was it?”

“Wait, wait, wait.” He didn’t want to interrupt Five in case he wasn’t able to get him to continue relaying the facts, but this time he couldn’t stop himself. “So you’re saying you and Cal had the same job? So it could’ve been you who was called up to kill our brother?”

There was a moment of silence, then Five nodded. “Yes.”

“Wow. Just - wow.” He shook his head, his expression stuck between a frown and a laugh of utter disbelief. “And here I thought Dad was bad enough - at least the people he had us kill were hurting other people. But you… What, was the fate of the universe hanging in the balance? Was Klaus talking to some ghost going to make the world implode? ‘Cause it’s survived plenty of that before.”

Five pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath in a clear effort to control his temper. Diego supposed that it must not have gotten much better over time. “I didn’t do it because I liked it, Diego. I did it so I could get back. And it just so happens that the fate of the world _is_ hanging in the balance. You wouldn’t understand, you’re still too naïve, too… Idealistic.”

Diego set his jaw, fists clenching, and did his best to remember that they still needed more answers, and Five wasn’t likely to be feeling too cooperative if he’d just gotten punched. Besides, he still looked like his thirteen year old self (and why? The question was still burning in Diego’s mind) and it just wouldn’t feel like a fair fight.

“Try me.” He prompted.

A sigh left Five’s lips, and he nodded slowly. “The world ends. In 2019, the world ends. I spent forty five years in the Apocalypse trying to figure out how to get back so I could stop it, but I couldn’t crack the formula. When the Commission offered me a job… It was my only way out of that place. I thought with more time without having to hunt for resources, better nutrition, a change of scenery, whatever knowledge I could get out of them, then maybe I’d be able to make it back here faster. I was going to jump closer to the date so I could figure out what happened and stop it, hopefully before the Commission found me, but now… I’ll have to adapt.”

So the world ended.  
Huh.

Somehow, he thought he’d feel more strongly about it. Maybe it was the fact that his brain had given up on making sense out of things the moment he heard Five’s voice for the first time in well over a decade, or maybe it was just that it seemed so implausible, so distant, so intangible. And yet, despite this strange detachment, he still managed to overlook Five’s previous occupation when he weighed this against the end of the world.

And of course Five would be arrogant enough to believe he could stop it.

Then again, he was the only one who stood a chance at doing so, so maybe his arrogance was more desperation and duty than his cocky streak. Considering the fact that it was Five, who notoriously thought himself better than everyone else, it was hard to tell.

Klaus was the one who spoke up next, though his voice still lacked its usual flair. “What did they want with me? I mean, I know they were trying to train me, but… What for?”

Five’s face grew solemn for a moment, and Diego frowned. He’d always figured it was stuck in ‘annoyed with an overt air of superiority’. He was pretty sure that he’d never seen it do that before.

“I believe they were trying to understand how you’re capable of communicating with the dead so that they could replicate it in some form of technology. It’s not unlikely that they would have liked to do the same with your telekinesis, but that… Well, that made you uniquely suited for a job like mine.”

That got a hysterical laugh out of Klaus.

“An assassin, you mean?” He asked, clasping his hands over his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter. It didn’t work. “Me, the eternal lookout? I - “

After that, there were a few others attempts at stringing together a coherent sentence, but they were mostly abandoned, leaving Diego and Five to exchange puzzled looks. In the end, Diego shrugged it off as an ‘it’s Klaus’ moment, and he assumed Five did the same. They had years of practice at that, even Five.

He took the opportunity to try to process everything that Five had just told them, but after a few minutes of trying, he realized that it was pointless. It was too much, and he was never going to be able to wrap his head around it in just a few minutes. So he was just going to have to do what he’d been doing since Klaus first displayed his telekinetic abilities - he was just going to have to grasp what he could and run with it.

At least Five seemed to have a handle on things. That took some of the weight off his shoulders, and he’d never admit it, but he was grateful for that.

“What now, then?” Diego asked.

Five shifted in his seat, moving up and down as though he were trying to see something, and after a moment, Diego realized that he was trying to catch a glimpse of something approaching on the rearview mirror.

A moment later, he’d jumped to the passenger seat and was trying to dislodge Diego from his spot on the driver’s side. “Now,” he started, still refusing to look back but keeping his eyes fixed on the mirror. “We survive.”


	12. Pink and Blue

It wasn’t Diego’s first car chase.

Really, they didn’t happen all that often, but he’d been in a few during his time at the Academy. Luther usually insisted on driving, but if he couldn’t for any reason, the others were all too happy to take the spot, Klaus excepted - their father had spent years trying to teach him to drive, and from what Klaus told him, he’d finally given up when a driving instructor begged him to drop it lest he accidentally somehow pass the test and get his license.

Being the one with the best long-range power, as much as he’d love to have been behind the wheel more often, Diego was usually the one sitting shotgun, which meant that he was no stranger to the position in which he found himself.

But he’d never been in a car chase with Five before, and he’d be happy never to be in one again.

There were shots being fired. A few got through the rear windshield, but those were few and far between, thanks to… Well, Diego wasn’t sure what exactly, but Five was weaving through traffic like he’d been driving in these conditions his whole life, and he suspected that the zig-zagging pattern that was giving him the worst vertigo of his life probably had something to do with them being mostly unharmed. He’d tried to throw a few knives back at their pursuers, but Five had pulled him back away from the window, and between his brother’s erratic driving and the bullets flying, he decided that Five was probably right.

Klaus was laying down on the backseat, clutching it tightly and occasionally screaming - usually when Five went through a very narrow gap - and no comments had been made on that, which was probably a first. Diego vaguely wondered whether Five realized that Klaus could probably just flip the car following them, but he decided against saying anything. He wasn’t sure that he could form a coherent sentence as long as Five was still driving.

The gap between them was growing wider, Diego realized, though their pursuers were just as good - and daring - drivers as Five himself. The longer the chase grew, the more risks his brother seemed to take, and Diego was growing worried. There was no point in running if he was just going to get them killed anyway - and others could be hurt, too. This was a bad idea.

And then came the sirens.

Really, it was always going to happen. Diego knew that, and he was sure that Five had to know that, too. He wouldn’t pretend to understand anything about his brother’s life since his disappearance, but if he could drive like that, then Diego had to assume that he’d been through this before, and so he had to know it would happen.

More cars joined the chase, and a few moments later, they were surrounded.

The original car kept on coming. More bullets shattered glass, and he ducked, one hand pulling Five down by his shoulder. His brother shook him off, stubbornly sitting up. The noise grew deafening.

And then, suddenly, it stopped.

Diego sat up to see the bullets frozen in midair, the car behind them half-lifted, the front wheels not touching the ground. His eyes fell on Klaus, who had his hands covering his ears, his own eyes squeezed shut. It was Klaus, it had to be Klaus, but it suddenly hit Diego that his brother didn’t even realize what he was doing. He wasn’t sure whether they should tell him or whether this was a Wile E. Coyote kind of situation, and the moment he noticed what he was doing, all hell would break loose again.

As it turned out, though, he didn’t have to make that choice. Klaus opened his eyes, let out a small yelp, and the bullets fell to the ground. Behind them, the car smashed back into the pavement with a loud crash.

“What was that?” Klaus asked, quickly scrambling up into a seated position.

There was a hint of a smirk on Five’s lips, and it was at that moment that Diego realized that this was not going to end well. The years spent in the Apocalypse, the Commission or wherever else he might’ve been had clearly not taught Five much about how to deal with people in general, and certainly not with Klaus.

“That,” he began, twisting around so that he was facing the backseat. “Was you. Your stress threshold is much higher than I anticipated, I thought you would have ended this chase a long time ago. We’ll have to work on that.”

Diego frowned, and Klaus recoiled.

“Wait, wait, wait - you knew he was going to do that? You almost got us killed, Five!” Oh, he was trying to hold back, he really was, but Five was pushing all of his buttons. Besides, he’d just put him through the car ride from hell, so he wasn’t feeling particularly sympathetic at the moment.

And there it was - that cocky Number Five smirk that Diego was sure none of them could possibly have ever forgotten. It hadn’t changed at all over time. “We were never in any real danger, Diego. There’s a lot about this that you don’t understand. But I’ll tell you this much - the people in that car will stop at nothing to either kill us or capture us, and this trick won’t work a second time, so we should really be going.”

“Trick? Five, you’re not - _I’m_ not - “ Klaus started, but was quickly cut off by Diego.

“Five’s right, we’ve gotta get out of here, but we need a plan. All the side streets are blocked, but maybe we can cut through the barricade if we - “

There was a familiar sound followed by a flash of blue light, and then Five was gone.

Diego sighed. He never was one for group work, always going off on his own, always enacting his own plans - which he hardly ever shared with the class. Their father often scolded him, saying that they needed to work cohesively as a unit, but those lectures were usually undercut by the fact that his plans _worked_. Most of the time, at least.

But now Five was gone again, and they were left to fend for themselves. _Great_. Just absolutely perfect, especially considering the fact that Five was the reason why they were in that mess in the first place. Or maybe it was Klaus? He was still a little confused, but he was blaming Five for at least part of it. He knew far too much not be involved somehow.

“Okay, Klaus - we’re making a run for it.” Diego instructed. “We’re getting out and… You see that store over there, the one with the red sign? We’re getting inside and going for the back door, okay? Maybe that’ll give us a clear path out of here.”

“Can’t we just.., Explain? We don’t need to mention the time-traveling assassins part, just - I mean, the car speaks for itself, doesn’t it?”

Klaus did have a point about the car - the windshield was so shattered that it was a wonder Five had been able to tell where they were going, and Diego was sure that there’d be more evidence of their plight on the trunk and on the sides of the car. Regardless of anything else, though, they couldn’t stick around - it was a wonder that the Commission people hadn’t come after them yet, and Diego didn’t really feel like pushing their luck. If they stayed, they might very well end up dead, and they could accidentally take a lot of people with them.

No, they had to get out of there as soon as possible.

“You wanna stay here with those lunatics? Be my guest. But if you wanna get out of here in one piece, you should come with me.” And with that, Diego threw open his door and stepped out, followed closely by a hesitant Klaus.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

It wasn’t, as it turned out, a stroke of luck that had the Commission people take their time in continuing to pursue them. It was a strategic move, one that left them comfortable to take their time until Diego and Klaus showed their hand. Diego cursed himself for not seeing that as he and Klaus quickly ducked behind the car, narrowly escaping the new onslaught of bullets. They were pinned down - if they tried to make it to any of the buildings, they’d be far too exposed for far too long.

“Do you think you can stop them again?” Diego asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Klaus shook his head. “I don’t even know how I did it in the first place!”

Diego let out a sigh, closing his eyes for the briefest of moments as he tried to think. Back in the days of the Academy, when they found themselves in a situation like this, it was Allison and Five who got them out of it - Five could jump away, and Allison’s rumors could stop their attackers on their tracks as long as they hadn’t prepared for that, which did happen, on occasion.

But now it was just him and Klaus - his knives would be a big help if he could only duck out of cover for a second, but that was far too dangerous, and Klaus… Well, Klaus could easily get them out of there, but he didn’t know how. He needed a plan, and fast.

Two people had stepped out of the car, from what he could see. Both of them sported creepy children’s masks - one was a pink dog, and the other a blue bear. Huh. What was with that? Maybe they’d watched one too many horror movies. They were getting closer and closer, and it was becoming all too clear that if they didn’t think of something soon, they were dead or worse.

“We’re gonna have to go.” Diego realized, shifting his stance so that he was ready to run.

Klaus, however, only clung closer to the car. “Are you crazy? We’re never gonna make it, Diego, you know that!”

“Do you have a better idea?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder to see how long they had. At this rate, it was probably just about a minute. “If we stay here, creepy and creepy will get us, and they’ll ship you back to where you were with security twice as tight. Is that what you want?”

Klaus shook his head vehemently.

“Good. Then we’re on the same page.” He gave Klaus a small pat on the shoulder, and his brother offered him the slightest of smiles. “I’ll go first and draw their fire. You wait three seconds, then you follow me, alright?”

“Diego - “

“It’s you they want, not me. You heard Five.” There was a sense of urgency in his voice, but it seemed like Klaus didn’t get it, for he opened his mouth to argue once again before being cut off by Diego. “We’ve gotta go, Klaus. _Now!_ ”

And with that, he ran out of their hiding place, heading straight for the large mailbox on the sidewalk, which should offer him some cover until he figured out the best way to get inside the store. It seemed to be closed, but that was no issue - the glass had already shattered, so he could just climb in through the window.

And that was when he noticed it.

He’d made it. He’d made it, and - 

It was silent.

Diego glanced back just in time to see Klaus hit the pink mask person over the head with what he was pretty sure was one of his old police academy textbooks - heavy, yes, but effective? Not so much. She was barely phased, quickly grabbing hold of one of Klaus’ arms and twisting it so that he was pinned. Diego flinched, hoping that it wasn’t broken.

Just as he came out from behind his cover, there was a blue flash a few feet away from Klaus. Five? It was about time he showed up.

But the flash was gone just as soon as it appeared, and Diego cursed. Was he really bailing on the fight, leaving them to fend for themselves? So much for rescuing Klaus - from the look of things, he might be back in that cell he described before the hour was over.

Eudora was right, though - Klaus was certainly not defenseless. He managed to hook his foot behind Pink’s leg, and he pulled, sending her crashing down to the ground. Her grip on his arm remained strong, though, and he fell on top of her, just barely managing to roll away before she seized him. A well-aimed elbow to her side, though, had her grip faltering and Klaus managed to stagger away, cradling his arm tightly against his chest.

Diego was by his side by then, knives in hand. One throw had a knife nearly lodge itself square in Pink’s eye, but she moved away at the last moment and it instead just took out one of the ears of the mask. A second one forced Blue to move away as he approached Klaus, giving them just a little more leeway.

There were two of them, and two of the creepy masked people, but the creepy-masked people still had the advantage - they were trapped, with no clear exit route, and very little maneuvering space. On one side, there was Diego’s car - or what was left of it. On the other, there were them. And all around them -

Wait.

Where had these people come from?

All around them, there were people in full-body armor and red masks, complete with goggles and some kind of breathing apparatus whose utility Diego suspected he’d rather not find out. They were approaching quietly, and -

The police cars.

It’d never actually been the police, had it?

Some of their suits were covered in blood, a few goggles were broken, and Diego wondered whether they’d forcefully wrestled those cars from its original owners. So much for the preservation of the timeline - this Commission didn’t seem to mind making a big mess of things. Then again, if Five was right, then maybe they didn’t have to worry about this for much longer.

And then one of them dropped to the ground.

Then another.

And another.

By the time they realized what was happening, a large dent had been made in their numbers. Diego’s eyes found Five on a rooftop, and a hint of a smile formed on his lips. He hadn’t abandoned them, then. Good, they could use all the help they could get.

But while Five dealt with the armored army that’d been sent after them, Diego and Klaus had their own problems at hand.

Pink and Blue hadn’t needed a moment to take in the fact that they were surrounded, which had, once again, put them at an advantage. As if they needed one. Blue had snuck up behind Klaus and nearly managed to take him in a chocking hold, but his brother had managed to dodge just in time, leaving Blue to lose his balance and nearly fall on right on top of Klaus. Diego shoved him away, which sent him tumbling and crashing into the car. But by then Pink was locked in blows with Klaus, and one thing was quickly becoming clear - his brother might be faster and probably a little more agile than her, but she was far stronger, and far less rusty on combat training.

Before he had the chance to intervene and try to gain Klaus the upper hand, though, Blue was back in the game and dangerously close to dealing what would probably have been a knock-out blow to his brother’s head. Diego threw himself at him, making him stagger back, and from there he couldn’t seem to break free from the fight.

Apart, him and Klaus didn’t stand a chance.

There was a flash of blue light, and suddenly, out of the edge of his vision, Diego could see Five fiddling with the key in the engine of the car. It was more than a little beat up after the chase, and the engine sputtered and complained, but finally, it started humming. Five jumped to the backseat and opened the door with a forceful shove that made Pink double over as it caught her straight in the stomach, then he jumped back and helped Diego to detangle himself from the fight for long enough to throw himself into the passenger seat. Another flash of blue light and he was in the driver’s seat, jerking the car to make a full U-turn while Klaus was still working on getting the door closed without getting caught by Pink.

Two knife throws punctured the front tires of Pink and Blue’s car, and for a second, as Klaus settled into the car, the door now closed, it seemed like all would finally be well.

Until the heard a siren and were quickly reminded that their own car was not the only means of pursuit available to Pink and Blue. Five scooted forward and began another mad dash through the streets, trying to get out of sight before they had a chance to catch up. Weaving through traffic on a main street, he managed to find a small alley through which the car just barely managed to barrel down, and a few more twists and turns had Five pulling up over the side of an unfamiliar street and quickly getting out.

“Come on, we’ve gotta go before they see us, they won’t be far behind.” Five prompted, standing outside the car with his arms crossed over his chest, fingers tapping impatiently.

Diego and Klaus quickly made their way out, both wearing a puzzled expression on their faces. “You’re just going to ditch the car here? Come on, we’re - I don’t even know where we are.”

Klaus raised his hand at that. “I do. We’re - oof, pretty far from your place, Diego. It’ll take us a good… Yeah, an hour or so of walking to get back. But there’s also a bus that we can take, it’ll drop us off about halfway there, and then we can walk.”

Five gestured at Klaus with a hint of a smile on his face, and Diego was pretty sure that if the world was ever going to end, it’d probably be right there and then, because he was certain he couldn’t imagine a universe where the two of them actually agreed on anything. It’d be like picturing a universe where he and Luther got along. “See, we don’t need the car to get back. It’s just a giant flag pointing at our position - it’ll be much harder for them to spot us if we’re on foot. And unlike Klaus, Hazel and Cha-Cha don’t know the city. They might know where you live, Diego, but they don’t know the best route to get there, they don’t know the back alleys and side streets that I’m assuming Klaus knows.”

Klaus nodded at that, and dammit, now Klaus was smiling too. The world was doomed.

  


* * *

  


As it turned out, Klaus did know the city pretty well. Diego thought his knowledge of it was pretty good given the fact that he spent most nights intercepting calls on the police scanner and patrolling on his own, but it was nothing compared to Klaus’ intuitive knowledge of every twist and turn that awaited them. He wondered whether it was just the area that was familiar (if he looked closely, he could certainly see _why_ it might be familiar) or if he really knew his way around that well, but he decided not to ask. Klaus was positively beaming, and Diego knew his brother well enough to know that he was happy to be useful, and he wasn’t about to burst his bubble.

They walked mostly in silence. Or rather, he and Five walked mostly in silence while Klaus told a number of anecdotes, narrated the path beyond them, announced random inanimate objects, and on occasion greeted an acquaintance or another. Neither Diego nor Five were in the mood to chat, but Klaus didn’t seem to need a participating second or third party, and he continued to happily prattle on regardless of their silence.

All in all, they were happy with that arrangement.

They eventually made it back to Eudora’s, and Diego felt himself relax when he found that she was already home, and from the worried tone in her voice, she’d been home for a good while already. She’d missed the chase, then. Good.

He explained everything to her while Klaus happily dug into a whole box of donuts and Five took care of the coffee she’d picked up, presumably also for Klaus.

By the end of the story she was sitting on the couch, staring mutely at Five, and Diego was… Well, he still wasn’t sure what he was. The world was going to end, the Commission wanted his brother, and his other brother had just come back from the future after several years, some of which he’d spent working as a time-traveling assassin. It wasn’t the kind of thing that you took in easily.

Eudora, to her credit, was trying to work through this practically. She always did that, Diego thought to himself, a hint of a smile wanting to quirk up his lips. He found himself thinking that he’d miss her if the world ended. He’d miss her _a lot_.

“Okay, so… Five.” She gave Five an uncertain look, as if she were expecting him to correct her. When he did nothing but shift his gaze towards her and sip his coffee, she continued. “You’ve had time to plan this, right? So you must have some kind of idea of how to stop it all from happening. And how to protect Klaus, too. You were one of them, right?”

There was the slightest twitch upwards on the corner of Five’s lips, something that might even be a smile by Five’s standards, and Diego wondered if it was possible that he and Eudora might actually get along. “My plan…” He sighed, frowned, then shook his head. “They’ll never stop coming for Klaus - they have the resources to exhaust us, and even if Klaus wasn’t worth it to them, making a stand against me at the same time will be. They’ll want - “ He paused. “We need to make a stand against _them_. I had this planned out, I - it doesn’t matter. We’ll just have to rethink this.”

Diego moved to take a seat next to Eudora, resting his head on his hands and letting his eyes fall closed. He didn’t know the first thing about this Commission, but he believed Five when he said they’d never stop coming for Klaus. They hadn’t had a moment’s peace since he fell on their radar, and they could give them a run for their money. How were they meant to make a stand against them when it was the four of them versus whatever army they sent?

A long silence fell upon them as they became absorbed in their thoughts, processing the information they’d learned, trying to formulate a plan. Diego’s every idea ended in a ‘GAME OVER’ screen from arcade games, and he grew more frustrated and more desperate by the second. He was not going to allow them to take his brother, not again. The last time he’d ended up in their clutches for three months, completely out of his reach. That was not happening a second time. And yet… For how long could they keep this up? As much as the answer that popped into his head immediately was ‘for however long we have to’, he knew that realistically, that wasn’t going to happen. He was exhausted, Eudora was exhausted, and Klaus… He wasn’t even sure what his brother was, but as much as he’d chattered away for nearly an hour as they made their way back to Eudora’s, he felt like something was off with him.

They wouldn’t last forever in this fight, and with the way Five spoke of the Commission, Diego suspected that _they_ could.

It was Klaus who broke the silence, though his voice was significantly more quiet than usual. “Uh, Five… I still don’t get _why_ they want me. If I - if I gave them what they wanted, then they don’t need me anymore, right? Why go through all this trouble to get me back?”

:You didn’t - “ Five shook his head, letting out a sigh that Diego knew was a telltale sign that his patience was being tested. He considered warning Klaus against pressing the subject, but he decided against it. They had to know. “You know what, Klaus? It doesn’t matter. None of it matters, because they want you, and we can’t stop them from getting you. And if we can’t stop them, then all of this, everything I put at risk - it’s all for nothing. So I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you better get it together before it’s too late.”

And with that, plus a few murmurs that sounded suspiciously like ‘useless, you’re all useless’, Five was out the door. A flash of blue light and a familiar sound told them that he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the great feedback on the last chapter! Five is not an easy character to write, and I wasn't too sure I could do him justice. I'm glad you all liked it!
> 
> This chapter is a little longer and a little more action-packed, but there's a few important bits peppered in there, too. Once again, I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking!


	13. The Plan

All eyes were on Klaus the moment after Five walked out the door, and Diego was pretty sure that he’d never seen his brother look more uncomfortable. It was quite a feat, really - Klaus was usually not only fine with being the center of attention, but also pretty much never embarrassed by anything. The only times he ever saw his brother looking like he wanted to disappear was when he was being heavily criticized, and…

Oh.

That was what he thought this was, wasn’t it?

And Diego supposed that it made sense, too - Five had spared him little sympathy, and although Diego could hardly even guess what he’d been talking about, it’d been pretty clear that he was not at all pleased with Klaus. Maybe, he thought to himself, they should just let it go.

But there were a lot of questions in the air, and while the only one that Diego was fairly certain held all the answers was Five, Klaus was the second best thing. If Five refused to give them full answers and instead only told them that they were on what appeared to be an impossible mission before storming out in a huff, then… Well, he and Eudora would just have to figure this out for themselves.

“You wanna tell us what he means?” Diego asked, raising an eyebrow at Klaus.

Klaus, however, just shook his head and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know. I don’t know! He keeps talking about things that happened at the Commission that I just - I don’t remember. I don’t remember any of it.”

Eudora moved to take a seat next to Klaus on the couch, and Diego couldn’t help but smile as he recognized the look on her face - it was the same look that she wore when she spoke to victims and witnesses. And it was only fitting, Diego supposed, considering everything that Klaus had been through. It was easy to forget that for all the craziness that had been going on in their lives over the past few days, Klaus had been through even more at the hands of the Commission for three months.

“How about you tell us the last thing you remember from the Commission?” Eudora prompted.

Klaus nodded slightly, though Diego could still sense some hesitation in him. “It was… Late. Yeah, they - they had me in those training rooms pretty much the whole day. They kind of always did, but I think some days ran longer than others, not that they had a clock in the room so I could check. I told them, I told them that it was pointless and I was never going to manage to do any of the stuff they were asking me to do, but they wouldn’t listen to me, and they were pretty grumpy. There were always these two guards, I don’t know their names but I called them Grumpy and Sleepy. They did not like that. But hey, I didn’t like being their science project, either, so… Fair’s fair.” He shrugged slightly, fingers finding the faux fur of his coat and beginning to tangle it absentmindedly. “Uh… They were taking me back to my room, but - “

By then, Diego had taken a seat on the armchair and he was sitting so close to the edge that he could easily fall off, his brows knitted together in worry. Klaus was getting to something, he could feel it, and from the look on his brother’s face, it probably wasn’t anything good.

A few long seconds passed before Klaus continued, and when he did, his voice was shaky. “But they didn’t. They - they took a different turn in the corridor, down somewhere I’d never been. And - I asked what was going on, but they wouldn’t tell me, they just took me to this - this place. It wasn’t really that different from where they were keeping me before, really. Y’know, pretty bare, no creature comforts. I don’t really get why they did that.”

Diego opened his mouth to speak, but Eudora held up a finger to silence him, and she leaned a little closer to Klaus, her voice gentle.

“And what happened next? After they brought you to the new room?”

Klaus shrugged. “I went to sleep. I don’t think they even brought me dinner, they must’ve been _pissed_. Some days they were angrier than others, even if I accomplished absolutely nothing every day. I was _very_ consistent.”

Except he wasn’t, was he? Because Five said that he actually managed to do something - to do _a lot_ , from the sound of it. They were all missing some key information there, and if they didn’t figure it out soon, then… Well, Five had implied the consequences of that pretty well before he very unhelpfully departed.

And he supposed that that must be what prompted the next few words to leave his lips, because he couldn’t possibly imagine what else it could’ve been.

“What about Ben?”

Klaus’ eyes met Diego’s, and he blinked in what seemed to be a mix of confusion and apprehension. Diego could honestly say that he felt the same, for he wasn’t sure what could have prompted him to decide to bring up one of their worst arguments at this moment, and he was certainly worried about where this conversation might head.

Klaus narrowed his eyes, clearly suspicious. Diego could hardly blame him. “What about him?”

Where was he even going with this? Why had he even thought that it was a good idea to bring up Ben? Clearly, he’d had something in mind, he just couldn’t seem to figure out what that might be. So he gave himself a second to think, letting his thoughts slow down for a moment, and when it all slotted together, he was horrified to think that Sir Reginald would be proud of him. But it was the best idea he had, so Diego figured that he had little choice but to go with it.

“You say you see him around, right?”

Klaus nodded.

“Then where was he during this whole thing? Did he go with you, did he stay?” Diego asked, and dammit, despite how cruel he found Klaus’ whole story regarding him being able to see Ben, he felt like bringing him up and using him to see if they couldn’t get Klaus to remember something more from the Commission was worse. He wasn’t even sure it would _work_.

“He went with me. He thinks - he thinks it was because he was holding onto me when Cal… Opened a magic briefcase? That’s what he says, anyway.” He shrugged slightly.

A magic briefcase? Yeah, right. Diego was already regretting this. But he’d started down this path, so he supposed he might as well finish it. “Well, then, maybe he knows something else.”

Klaus turned to look at something by his side, and he rolled his eyes, sighed, and nodded slightly. “Yeah, he says he does. He - yeah, Ben, I know! I know, but it’s been - and Five, and… Oh, shut up!”

Diego raised an eyebrow at that. He glanced over at Eudora, who was watching the exchange with a look of intense curiosity. He had a feeling that she actually believed Klaus about Ben, he wanted to warn her, but… Well, she knew, didn’t she? She’d heard both sides of the argument, she’d had Diego come to her after an argument with Klaus and rant, vent his frustration, and just a couple of days ago she’d had Klaus knocking on her door after their argument. She _knew_. And yet somehow, she really seemed to believe him.

“Uh…” Klaus frowned, taking a moment to continue. “Ben says that - he says I saw Five that night. He says uh… Wait, wait. I think - 

“I was in bed, you were - you were reading in the corner. I was trying to sleep, but one of the ghosts was still hanging around and she kept reciting that nursery rhyme. What was it? Right, Hickory Dickory Dock. How could you read through that? She’d stop and I’d just think that maybe, maybe this time she wouldn’t start over again, but then she’d pick it up from the top. It was _maddening_.” Diego supposed that his glare must have been effective, for the moment Klaus’ eyes found him, he moved on. “Anyway, uh… There was a sound and a flash of blue light and there he was, Number Five, inside our cozy little barren cell. He didn’t look like he was thirteen back then, he - he was older. Older than us.

“Wow, how did I forget that?” He let out a small laugh of disbelief, running a hand through his hair, eyes falling closed for a moment. Diego wanted to press on, but he stopped himself. Klaus was making progress, and he didn’t want to rush him. “Uh - we talked. We talked a lot, actually. He said that he found a way to disable the security system for a little while - some kind of favor he called in with someone, something about Calhoun? He was - oh, he was not happy, but he said it should earn us some time to talk during the night. We talked about the Commission, and he explained what they were trying to do with my powers, he - oh, right! He gave me - “ A small giggle escaped Klaus’ lips as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notebook and a pencil. “He gave me this! He said he thought it might help with the soul-crushing boredom.”

Almost absentmindedly, Klaus opened the notebook and began to flip through the pages. He frowned as he stared at the drawings and scribbled words, the frown deepening with every new leaf. Diego opened his mouth to ask him about it, but Eudora gestured for him to wait, and his mouth fell shut once again.

“I don’t - I don’t remember these.” Klaus murmured, tracing his fingers over the images. “I mean some of them, vaguely, but…”

His fingers stilled as he reached one of the last pages of the notebook, and both Diego and Eudora moved closer so that they could see what Klaus had found. It was a list, written in what was certainly Klaus’ handwriting, and in a style that was undeniably his.

  


> **FIVE AND KLAUS’ SUPER-SECRET ‘SCREW THE COMMISSION’ TO-DO LIST**
> 
> \- Figure out teleporting with a carry-on;  
>  \- ~~Find best route to briefcase room;~~  
>  \- Train new powers;  
>  \- Figure out Five’s cooldown issue;  
>  \- Meet Delores, she seems cool;  
>  \- ~~Coordinate Five’s vacation days;~~  
>  \- Find complaint box and complain about meal quality;

  


At the bottom, scribbled in a handwriting that Diego vaguely recognized as Five’s, there was another note, underlined several times.

  


> _GET KLAUS TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY_

  


Diego chuckled at that. Getting Klaus to take things seriously was a recurring issue, even when the situation was desperately serious and directly involved him. Still, most of the items on the list seemed to actually be relevant, so Diego figured that Five should take that as a win.

After a moment, he took his eyes off the page and turned them towards Klaus, who was still staring at the words with an intensity that Diego couldn’t pretend to understand.

“It wasn’t - it wasn’t three months. I… I understand now.” He glanced over to his side and smiled sadly, then he let his eyes fall on the list once again. “It was longer, but it was - it was easier after Five started visiting. We were planning something, we… He thought he could break me out, but we needed to plan it carefully because the Commission was - oh.”

There were tears spilling from his eyes.

Diego wasn’t sure what to do,

“It didn’t - it didn’t work. We had a plan, we had a plan but I - he wanted me to… Oh, no.” He pulled up his knees, the box of donuts falling forgotten to his side, powder spilling all over his shirt and Eudora’s couch. No one said a word. Klaus rested his head on his knees, tears dripping down onto his leather pants.

Eudora rested a hand gently on his back. “It’s okay. Take your time.” She reassured him.

Klaus fell silent once again.

The notebook laid precariously balanced on the edge of the couch cushion, and Diego picked it up, hoping that it might help them to figure out what had happened. It felt… Wrong, looking through something that could be so personal, but Klaus didn’t stop him, and they didn’t have too much time, so he pushed that feeling aside and began to flip through it.

For the most part, it was drawings - beautiful sketches, and Diego found himself smiling slightly at that. Klaus had always loved drawing, but Sir Reginald Hargreeves had only allowed the pursuit of art during the very limited leisure time they had or as part of their academic curriculum on the allotted time. It wasn’t exactly a creative environment. It was nice to see how much he’d improved, how much he must have dedicated himself to it.

Some of it seemed to portray different parts of the Commission, others random scenes that he wasn’t sure had actually happened or if they were a work a fiction. There were drawings of them - the seven siblings, even Mom and Pogo - but not Reginald, Diego noted with a satisfied smile. There were a lot of sketches of Five, mostly portraying him in what must be his true age, and even more so of Ben, at which Diego had to make a conscious effort to stop his eyes from watering. He looked older, too, not the teenager he’d been when he died. Diego found himself wondering whether ghosts aged, and if they did, whether he hadn’t been a little too quick to judge Klaus’ claim that he could see him as a lie.

But there were some that really caught his eye.

Klaus standing in front of a table, one arm raised, a glass floating in front of him.  
Klaus and Ben in a large, empty room that looked nothing like the drawings depicting his cell, just sitting and engaging in conversation. There was something off about Ben, and something different about Klaus, but Diego just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

There were clues in the drawings, Diego was sure of that. But he didn’t know much about the Commission, he didn’t know much about Klaus’ time there, and he knew even less about Klaus’ powers, so all he could do was to try and figure out what caught his attention. In the end, they were just drawings, too. How could they know how much of it was real and how much of it was just Klaus’ imagination?

But Five had said that Klaus had used his powers, so Diego was willing to bet that the one with the glass was real, at least. He’d learned to use them, maybe to even control them. After years and years of training with Reginald, he even knew why it was a glass that they’d given him - if he didn’t set it down carefully, it would break. If he used too much force - assuming his powers even worked like that - it would break. And the glass in the drawing was intact, there were no depictions of it broken in the next few pages, so Diego was ready to assume he’d succeeded.

He flipped to another page.

There were two people standing in front of a door. One of them was tall and thin, and she stood with her shoulders squared, posture reminding Diego strangely of the way their father had had them stand when he was relaying important information to them, Klaus used to jokingly call it ‘standing at attention’, and Diego thought there was more truth to his words than he even realized. The other was shorter and more relaxed, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, seeming more bored than anything.

“They’re dead, you know?” Klaus said, raising his head from where it’d been resting over his knees. “Grumpy and Sleepy. Or - or they must be.”

Eudora frowned. “What happened, Klaus?”

He shook his head. “It was my fault. We had a plan, but I… I wasn’t supposed to give the Commission much to work with, I was supposed to just work on control, on - on things they wouldn’t be too interested in. Five said that I had to give them something, but it could be a slow process, you know? Not show what I could really do. But… They were good. They - one day it’d be training in a room with a few juggling balls, and the next they’d stick me in a room with - with flying knives and - and combat situations and I couldn’t… I didn’t mean to.” He let out a sigh, tears already streaming down his face once again. “Once Five realized that they were going to keep finding ways to force me to reveal my powers, he said we couldn’t wait anymore. So he got me out. But we never - we never worked out the _finer points_. He couldn’t teleport with me in tow, so I broke down the door and set off pretty much every alarm in the place. We were surrounded in seconds. I - “

He stopped, his eyes finding that same spot beside him once again. Was that Ben? Diego was starting to wonder.

“They grabbed him. Five. It took a small army, but they did it. His teleporting was doing a fritz-y thing and he couldn’t get free. They threatened him. I got scared, I - I didn’t want to lose him again. And I didn’t even mean to, but it must - it must’ve been me. The walls were shaking, and there were cracks everywhere, and then - then people were running, and I was running, and I didn’t even know where I was going but I ran anyway, and - they were firing at us, still, and things were - were catching fire, and - I fell, I tripped over something and I fell, but it wasn’t something, it was someone, and I tried to get up but I couldn’t, I just kept slipping on something and then I - I must’ve blacked out.“

He fell silent, unmoving, and neither Diego nor Eudora dared to break that silence.

They didn’t have to, though, for a flash of blue light lit up the room once again, and in came Number Five, easing the heavy atmosphere that had set in at least to some degree. Klaus broke out of his trance and blinked at Five, frowning slightly, as if trying to conciliate his memories with the current situation.

“Klaus, I’ve decided that - “

Klaus cut him off, though, and his voice sounded distant, but there was a seriousness to it that was rather unusual. “I remember.”

“What?”

“I remember. I remember the training with my powers, I remember our plan, I remember the - the building collapsing, I remember everything.” There were tears welling up in his eyes once again, and this time it was Diego who reached out to comfort him, placing a hand over his back in an attempt at a show of support.

Five, on the other hand, simply nodded. “Good. That’s good. That means that you can help me. We’ll need to do this strategically - none of this would even be a problem if we’d stuck to the plan in the first place.”

“Hey, you’re the one who said we had to leave!”

“We wouldn’t have had to leave if you’d only controlled your powers properly!”

“Says the person who got himself stranded in the Apocalypse because you wanted to play with your powers and Dad wouldn’t let you!”

“Yeah? You wouldn’t even use yours, you were too _scared_.”

The shift in Five’s tone, the spark in Klaus’ eye, as if someone had lit a fire behind them - this was going to turn into one of the famous Hargreeves showdown. According to Five, they didn’t have time for that. Someone had to step in.

“Alright, you two, that’s enough.” Diego announced, moving to stand between the two of them. “Five, you said we were going to have to be strategic about this. What’s your plan?”

Five nodded, breathing out a small sigh. “The truth is, I don’t have one. The original plan was to jump to about a week before the Apocalypse so that the Commission didn’t have time to stop me. Whatever happened, it was unexpected, so that should mean that there’s no big advantage gained on any extra time. But we’re too far away now to just keep running, and we can’t slow them down because they can time-travel.”

“Can’t you just jump to the future?” Diego offered, raising an eyebrow at him.

Five gave him a look that suggested that his idea was as crazy as - well, as the idea of time-traveling assassins policing the timeline. “Wow, Diego, if only I’d thought of that.” He retorted. “No, I can’t just jump to the future. Coming here was a last-ditch effort to save mine and Klaus’ lives. Another jump could risk even worse consequences than landing a couple of years too soon and ending up looking like a thirteen year old boy.”

Diego shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Five. You’ve done this before, why can’t you just do it again?”

“Have you even been listening, Diego? I ended up stuck in the Apocalypse. I spent forty-five years stranded there. I haven’t done this before, not successfully. Dad was right, time travel is a crapshoot.” He shook his head.

“What if we went back there?” Klaus offered.

“The Apocalypse?” Five asked.

Klaus shook his head. “No, no - the Commission. You said that the problem is that they have time-travel, right? But what if we took that out? What if we destroyed all the briefcases?”

Five considered it for a moment - which was rather impressive, Diego noted, considering the fact that Five tended to dismiss most of what they said without a moment’s thought - before shaking his head. “They’d just rebuild them. Even if took them years, it wouldn’t make a difference - they could still travel to this same moment. For us, it’d be like no time passed at all.”

There was a long stretch of silence, which was only broken when Eudora reluctantly spoke up. “It sounds like you’re saying that you have no choice but to go into hiding.”

“That’s _two years_ you’re talking about, it’s not happening.” Five assured her.

Klaus shifted on the couch, scooting forward and moving to cross his legs. “We can’t run for two years.” He offered. “But we can hide. If we find somewhere remote enough, then… Maybe the Commission won’t find us.”

Diego nodded in agreement. “Sounds like it’s the best option we’ve got right now.”

“You’re asking me to go live in the middle of nowhere for two years?” The skeptical eyebrow that Five raised at that was a clear sign that his suggestion was not overly popular.

“You already spent forty-five years in the Apocalypse.” Diego supplied.

“An experience I have no desire to repeat.” Diego opened his mouth to argue, but Five beat him to the pot, a bit of a smirk on his face. “You know, if we do go into hiding, you would have to come with us. Two years locked away in the middle of nowhere with Klaus, do you think you could take that?”

“Hey!” Klaus interjected. “I happen to be a delight to spend time with.”

“Sure you are.” Five smirked again, and Klaus huffed in protest.

Diego ran a hand over his face, letting out a sigh. Five was right. Five was right and he knew it. No, he didn’t like the thought of spending two years in hiding, but he also knew that they couldn’t keep this up. They were running on steam, and they only had to slip up once to get caught. The Commission had pretty much as many tries as they needed to get them. The odds were not in their favor.

“What if it’s just temporary? Just until we figure something else out. We can’t stay here, Five, they’ll find us.” Diego suggested.

Five took a moment to think it over, and Diego used that time to do the same. If he were to be honest, he’d have to admit that he hated the idea of going into hiding. He’d never been one to run from his problems, he liked confronting them head-on, even when it was a bad idea. Going into hiding just meant potentially two years of sitting around while the Commission was still out there, and he didn’t even know what they were doing, but - well, this wasn’t just about him, was it? It was about Five, it was about Klaus, and he couldn’t put them in harm’s way because he didn’t want to back down from a fight, because he didn’t want to give up control.

So yes, he was doing this.

Part of him felt that he was crazy for agreeing to it, but he was doing it.

“Okay.” Five finally said. “You’re right, we can’t fight them, and we can’t stay here, so we need a safer place to stay while we work on a strategy. But this is _entirely_ provisory.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Klaus nodded, giving him a clumsy salute.

“Now, there’s the issue of location. The Commission does pay a salary, but I can’t exactly withdraw funds and not expect them to track us down. I don’t suppose either one of you has any substantial amount of money.”

Klaus burst out laughing at that, and Diego shook his head. He glanced over at Eudora, though he felt a little guilty for including her in that, and she also shook her head. Out of the three of them, she was easily the one who made a better salary, and if even she couldn’t spare any money - well, that was going to be an issue.

Five frowned.

To Diego’s surprise, it was actually Klaus who spoke up with an idea. “Well, Dad has a lot of real estate. He might have something that’d work.”

“Isn’t that a little predictable, though?” Eudora chimed in.

Five shook his head, seemingly intrigued by the idea. “No, actually. Dad never does anything in a straightforward way - the man is known for being the most reclusive billionaire of the world. I’d wager that the only people who know which properties he owns are him and perhaps Pogo, not even Grace. It may not be traceable even if they know what they’re looking for.”

Klaus clapped happily, uncrossing his legs and scooting to the very edge of his seat. “Well, then, I guess we’re breaking into the Academy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this turned out a little longer than I planned, but there were a lot of answers in this one (I may or may not have spent the whole day yesterday working on this chapter, I've had this more or less planned for so long)!
> 
> Once again, I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking!


	14. Meet the Parents

They planned it carefully.

The whole mansion was a mismatched mix of the businesses that surrounded what Diego could only guess was the original house - by the time he was old enough to remember it, the mansion had already been exactly as it was now, save for Klaus’ room, which had been half his and half Vanya’s for their whole childhood through to mid-teens. The layout was instinctive to the three Hargreeves, who’d all grown up there and knew the house like the back of their hands, but a little harder for Eudora to grasp - and really, it was only when he tried to explain it that he realized how thoroughly chaotic the whole place was, a stark contrast to the order Sir Reginald imposed on the household.

For the most part, the plan was devised by the three siblings, Eudora being hesitant to join in. Diego could tell that she was rather uncomfortable with the idea of breaking and entering into their father’s place, and - well, he could understand that. A few offhanded anecdotes regarding their childhood from Klaus were enough to break her resolve and get her to agree to not only not stop them, but to also join in, but she still stood back as they planned, only offering advice here and there.

Klaus, it seemed, knew pretty much every way in and out of the Academy, from the windows that didn’t quite shut properly to the best way to get past Pogo’s room unnoticed when using the - unadvisedly noisy, according to Klaus - Laundromat entrance. When asked whether he’d learned all of that when they were younger and he’d sneak out of the house every so often, Klaus only laughed and said that it was _much_ easier back then. Diego decided against asking for an explanation.

In the end, they settled for a simple approach - they’d take the fire escape up to Five’s room, Five would jump in and unlock the almost certainly locked window, and then they could take the stairs to the second floor and sneak over to the wing that held their father’s office. It’d be a long way inside the house, but their mother should be charging, Pogo would likely be in the basement, and their father - hopefully - would already be asleep.

It should be fine.

But even the best laid plans had a tendency to go awry.

They made it all the way down the stairs and through the corridors of the wing that held all of their rooms. They were close - all they had to do was sneak past the main staircase to the other side of the house and they’d be there. Assuming that their father wasn’t in the study, they’d have gotten through the worst of it.

They didn’t even notice anything until a voice called them out.

Diego was the first to freeze on the spot, followed quickly by the others. It’d been… So long since the last time he’d heard that voice, and he knew that he should be worried that they’d been spotted, he knew that they should do something - run, bargain, _anything_ \- but… It was _Mom_. And he missed her so much.

“Diego, darling, what are you doing here?” She asked, her voice just as sweet as he remembered.

His lips quirked into a smile against his will, and he found it rather difficult to care about that at that moment. “Mom,” he said, then blinked in an attempt to refocus on their mission. He would love nothing more than to get to spend some time with her, but they couldn’t afford to dawdle. If their father found out that they were there, or even that they’d _been_ there… Diego wasn’t quite sure what would happen, but he could imagine that it would not be very pleasant.

“Mom, shouldn’t you be recharging?” Diego asked, deciding that deflection might just get them off the hook. Their mother was kinder than anyone else in that house, and he’d found that sometimes he could get her to keep a secret. Sometimes.

“Oh, I was just putting your father to bed. He worked very late tonight.” She explained. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Diego blinked, not quite sure what she meant, and glanced over to his side, where his siblings and Eudora stood like deers caught in the headlight. Or -

Wait, where was Five?

He pushed that question out of his mind, and his eyes found Eudora again. Right, Eudora. He’d never introduced her to his mother. Really, the only person from his family that she knew was Klaus, and now Five. If he’d had his way, then she wouldn’t know anyone from the Academy at all, though she did seem strangely fond of Klaus. He supposed his brother had that effect on people, not that he’d ever understand it. If she could get to like Five, though… Then he’d have to seriously consider whether she wasn’t actually a saint.

“Right. Uh - Mom, this is Eudora. Eudora, this is my mother, Grace.”

Grace took a step forward and reached out to shake Eudora’s hand. Eudora, hesitantly, accepted the handshake. It occurred to him that this was likely the first time she was meeting someone new outside of something related to the Academy, perhaps the first time she was seeing someone outside of the family since the end of the Academy’s fame, and Eudora… Well, she was meeting the one parental figure in his family that he truly loved, all the while they were breaking and entering into his old childhood home, a few hours after finding out that his missing brother was alive, meeting him, and learning that they were being hunted by time-traveling assassins, and that the world would end in about two years.

This had been possibly the strangest week of his life, which was saying something.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Eudora.” Grace said, the smile still on her lips. “Diego, dear, you still haven’t told me the reason for your visit. And Klaus, do you need me to make some hot cocoa for you again?”

Klaus smiled at that, shaking his head. “No, Mom, that’s okay. Oh, actually - “

Diego cut in, placing an arm in front of him before he could go ahead and make himself at home. Knowing Klaus, he’d have their mom making them dinner before they even realized it. “Mom, we… We actually can’t stay long.”

She nodded. “Should I get your father, then?”

Diego and Klaus said no almost simultaneously, both shaking their heads emphatically.

“Uh, Mom… Do you think you could maybe not tell Dad about this?” Klaus asked, and Diego immediately recognized that tone as the sheepish one that his brother always used when he was trying to get their mom to do something for him. It worked, sometimes.

She tutted. “Klaus, dear, why do you never want your father to know about your visits? I’m sure he misses you all very terribly.”

Diego cut in at that, moving to face his brother, a frown on his face. “Your visits? Klaus, what is she talking about?”

“Diego, you’re being rude! Mom is right there!” A well-practiced glare was enough to shut Klaus up, however, and he breathed in a sigh. “Okay, okay! So maybe this isn’t my first time back here.”

“Yeah, I got that. What were you doing, coming back here? Come on, Klaus, don’t you know what this place did to us? What Dad did to us? And you’re coming here like - like it’s a vacation spot? Do you know what Dad would do if he caught you? Breaking free from here was the best thing that any of us ever did, what - why would you do that?”

Klaus took a step back, hands raised in a surrendering motion. “Hey, Dad never knew about this, I promise! Mom said… She promised she wouldn’t tell him. It was just - it gets cold in the winter, okay? And sometimes I can’t find a place to crash, and you’re being all grumpy, so this one time… It was pointed out to me that _maybe_ coming back here for just one night wouldn’t be worse than spending the night out in the snow because apparently ‘it’s a hazard’ and ‘you’re going to die if you keep this up, Klaus’ and ‘freezing to death in the winter is a real thing.’” He rolled his eyes and blew a raspberry to the empty space at his side (Ben?). “After that one time, it… Kind of turned into a fallback option, okay? But Dad doesn’t know a thing about it, I swear.”

Diego shook his head, running a hand over his face. He’d rather know that Klaus was somewhere safe, but at the same time he knew that the Academy was anything _but_ safe. Running away was the easiest and hardest thing that he’d ever done in his life, and he’d be surprised if it hadn’t been the same for all of his siblings. Klaus… He could be impressively strong-willed at times, he was stubborn and he’d been about as rebellious as Diego himself in their youth, but none of them was immune to their father. He remembered still how scared his brother always looked when he stood up to Reginald - and dammit, he knew that fear all too well - and how shaken he was when it was over. He remembered times when he’d be so complacent that it scared Diego, as if something inside him had broken, as if the fire within him had been completely extinguished. It came back, it always came back, but there were days, weeks, even, when Diego worried. And if Klaus got dragged back into that hell… What was to say that this wouldn’t happen again? But this time he’d be alone. In their childhood, at least they’d all had each other. They could all be selfish, so selfish, but at least they were there.

It was easier, Diego had found, to go through something like that knowing you were not alone.

He missed Ben.

And he hated to admit it, but he missed Vanya, too.

“You should’ve told me, man! You should’ve told me it was that bad, you should - “ He closed his eyes and shook his head, realizing that he was backing Klaus into a corner, his finger on his brother’s chest. He was being too loud, and this didn’t matter now, and - he shouldn’t be all but yelling at him for this, should he? He was just scared, he was back to a place that he hated and scared that if his brother walked in there all by himself, he might not come back out. It wasn’t Klaus’ fault.

He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry.” He said after a long minute. “It’s just… This place. We’ll talk later, okay?”

A hint of a smile ghosted Klaus’ lips, growing brighter by the second. “Aww, Diego! Look at you, apologizing!” He covered his mouth with his hands, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Eudora, did you capture this moment of beautiful personal growth?”

Eudora chuckled and rolled her eyes, at which Klaus only laughed, and Diego knew he was forgiven.

“Klaus, darling?” Grace spoke up again, and Klaus twirled around, as if suddenly remembering she was there.

“Oh, right, Mom. Uh - trust me, Dad does not miss me, and he - he’s busy with all of his super-secret, very important, probably super boring stuff. You know how he’s always locked away in that study. So, you know, he doesn’t need to worry about us on top of everything else. We’re just - just passing by. Thought we’d visit out good ol’ childhood prison - I mean, home.” 

There was a long pause where Grace simply looked at them, as if studying them, trying to find a clue as to what they were planning. Their father had programed her to be the perfect housewife, someone who would do the cleaning, the cooking and the child-minding and be happy with only that, but Diego knew that there was a lot more to her than simple instructions on how to do certain tasks, coupled with social skills that Sir Reginald quite honestly should have taken the time to learn himself. She was smart, a lot smarter than any of the others gave her credit for, and she might be programmed to follow their father’s instructions, but Diego could swear that she could sometimes break free of that and go against him, even if in small ways. Every little bit mattered, and small actions could be incredibly meaningful.

He had a feeling that she understood that.

Sir Reginald did not, in any way, shape or form, deserve her.

He hoped that she understood that, devoted as she might be to him. She’d been programmed to be loyal to him, to defend him when they tried to question even something as deep as his very morality. That wasn’t her choice.

And finally, she smiled.

“Come with me downstairs. I’ll make you dinner.” She invited them.

And of course, that was when Number Five chose to join them. Diego had to stop himself from jumping away, and he raised an eyebrow at Klaus when he realized that his brother didn’t react at all. Strange, he was always rather jumpy - watching a horror movie with him was a horror movie in itself with how many times he screamed, scrambled to hide behind something or, on occasion, ended up clinging to Diego like his life depended on it. And yet now Five materialized right by his side, and he simply looked at him as if that were the most expected thing in the world.

“We should go.” Five prompted, already starting to walk away. “Goodbye, Grace.”

Klaus, however, didn’t budge, only looking between the four of them with a somewhat sheepish look on his face. Diego raised an eyebrow at him, but there was a fond smile on his lips. He knew exactly what that look was, and… Well, he supposed he might as well humor him. “Go on, say it.” Diego cued.

“Well, Mom’s making dinner.” Klaus said, as if the rest should be self explanatory.

It was self-explanatory enough. “What? Klaus, you just ate a whole box of donuts.”

“What? That was hours ago! Come on, Mom’s food is _so_ good. You’ve got to remember that. _Please_? I’ve been living on nothing but Commission food for _months_ , Five. Uncooked frozen waffles are better than whatever it is that they call food.”

Five opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, shaking his head. “You know what, I’m not even going to ask how you know that.” He decided. “Well, I guess this will be more productive than spending the next few hours listening to you complain about missing out on Mom’s dinner, so sure. Let’s eat.”

There was a clear edge of annoyance on Five’s tone, and the smile he offered them was one that - well, to anyone else, it might’ve been mildly terrifying. They’d grown up with him, though, and they were all a little too used to it, even if it’d been many years ago. As for Eudora - well, she’d wandered off a little, curiously examining the mansion, which was probably for the best. She’d need some time to adjust to their brother.

They all sat at the kitchen table while Mom cooked. Diego wanted to ask Five where he’d been, if he’d found anything that could help them, but he knew he couldn’t, not with Mom over there. He was pretty sure that the same thought was going through Klaus’ and Eudora’s minds. So they sat there silently, and Diego watched with even a dash of nostalgia as his mom prepared what had to be the most complicated recipe for mac and cheese that he’d ever seen.

There was already a dish set aside, though, with bread and marshmallows, peanut butter sitting right beside it. Diego could see Five’s eyes wandering towards it every so often, and he had to stop himself from chuckling. Criticize them as he might, it seemed like he wasn’t immune to his own idea of comfort.

It was Grace who broke the silence, turning around and setting down platefuls of mac and cheese in front of them before grabbing the ingredients for Five’s sandwich and placing it in front of him. “So, children, tell me, how have you been? Klaus tells me so very little when he visits. And Five, my dear, I know nothing about your life now!”

Diego frowned. “Mom, Five has been missing for over a decade.”

“I know. Your father always said he would come back. Oh, he will be thrilled to see you, Five. I simply don’t understand why you don’t want me to wake him up.”

“Mom, you really shouldn’t - “ Klaus interjected, but he was interrupted by Five, who’d quickly jumped up from his seat and now stood just slightly taller than before.

“Grace, you’ll tell our father nothing about tonight.”

Both Diego and Klaus gave Five a shocked look at that - none of them had ever spoken to her like that, and perhaps Five had done so before his disappearance, but they’d grown used to Grace being the most respected member of the household, followed closely by Pogo, with Sir Reginald lagging far behind.

Diego liked to think that there were pieces of furniture they held in a higher regard than their father.

It was Eudora, however, that quickly jumped in. “Mrs. Hargreeves, I think what Five is trying to say is that it’s really not necessary to tell him that we came by. We all know he’s a very busy man, and - well, to be quite honest, none of us came here to see him. It may be easier on everyone if he just doesn’t know that we visited. I’m sure you can imagine it would be hurtful if your children came here and didn’t wish to see you.”

There was a long, pregnant pause before Grace nodded. “I understand.” She held a serious look for a moment, then her smile returned and she took a seat across from them, as cheery as ever. “Eudora, Klaus tells me you’re a detective.”

Both Eudora and Diego immediately stopped eating at that, nearly chocking, and Klaus watched the scene unfold with an amused look on his face.

“Klaus told you about me?” Eudora asked, raising an eyebrow at Grace, then at Klaus. “Uh - yeah. Diego and I met at the Academy, actually.”

“Oh, yeah, they were very close right from the beginning.” Klaus teased, wriggling his eyebrows somewhat suggestively and then dissolving into a fit of giggles.

Diego decided to look into whether it was possible to disinherit one’s brother.

“Actually, we didn’t really get along at first. I’m sure you know how competitive Diego can be, and he just couldn’t handle the fact that I kicked his ass in pretty much all classes. Sorry there wasn’t a knife-throwing course at the Academy, Diego.” Eudora smirked, and he’d have been glad for the change in topic were it not for the fact that… Well, what she was saying was actually _true_. She’d been at the top of pretty much every class at the Academy, and he’d fought to try and surpass her. In the end, he’d gotten kicked out, though that was a different story entirely.

He blamed her outperforming him on the fact that Sir Reginald had never taught them to fight fair, and in training at the Academy, things like using a toaster as a weapon, which had been a pretty basic lesson growing up, was grounds for disqualification.

That was one of the reasons he’d gotten into boxing, though, and considering how much he enjoyed it… Yeah, he didn’t mind it too much.

“It’s always been like this.” Grace nodded in agreement, and Diego briefly considered whether he could slip away unnoticed and at least spare himself from having to listen to this. He was pretty sure, though, that Klaus would call him out if he tried, and that’d only make things worse. “He and Luther were always fighting. But they care about each other in the end, you know?”

Eudora gave him a smile that he just _knew_ meant that he would be hearing about this later, and she nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

The phone rang, and Diego silently thanked however that was before realizing that there was a very decent chance that this noise would wake their father and they’d be caught. They had to go, and quickly.

While Grace went to answer the phone, he jumped up from his seat. Five seemed to be thinking the same thing, for he was already quickly spreading the peanut butter on his sandwich, throwing in the marshmallows, and closing it. “Come on, we’ve gotta go.” Five prompted.

Diego nodded in agreement.

Klaus, however, was frowning, staring at Grace with a worried look in his eye.

“No, wait, guys.” He said, standing up and slowly beginning to walk towards their mother.

Diego let out a sigh. They didn’t have time for this, they had to get going. Klaus was never the best at understanding urgency, though, and something told him that it’d be easier to bite than to try and get him to just let it go. “What is it, Klaus?”

“It’s Vanya.”

“What?”

“On the phone. It’s Vanya.”

“So?”

“So when was the last time that Vanya called here? When was the last time Vanya even talked to any of us?”

“Does it matter? Klaus, come on, we need to go.” If there was one thing that Diego wouldn’t pretend to understand, it was Vanya’ motive for doing pretty much anything, from writing that book of hers to calling the Academy. It didn’t matter, though - what mattered was getting out of there before their father showed up. They could decipher the reason behind her phone call later.

To his surprise, though, Five jumped in. “No, Klaus is right. Why would she be calling the Academy in the middle of the night? Something’s wrong.”

Five… Did have a point. He was agreeing with Klaus for the second time in one day, which threw Diego’s entire understanding of the world into question, but he did have a point. It was late, it was very late, and if it was something that couldn’t wait until morning, then… Whatever this was, it was serious.

Grace was still talking to her, and Diego was almost certain he’d regret this, but he walked up to his mom’s side and held out a hand. “Can I talk to her, Mom?”

His mother nodded, informed Vanya that she’d be handing over the phone to him, and gave him the handset.

“Vanya?” Diego asked.

She made a small sound on the other side, and Diego couldn’t help but think that she sounded scared. He could feel his heart rate picking up. Regardless of the book, regardless of any resentment he might carry towards her, she was still his sister, and he wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. “Diego? Diego, I - I didn’t know who to call, I - Something’s going on.”

She was scared. She absolutely was scared. And if she was calling the Academy, of all places, then it was something serious. He gestured for the others to come closer.

“What’s going on, Vanya?” He asked.

There was a moment of hesitation before she spoke. “There’s - two people, they broke into my apartment. They were - they were arguing when I got there, I don’t think they saw me. But they - I don’t think they were robbers, I think they were waiting for me, and maybe that’s crazy, but… They were wearing masks, Diego.”

“A pink dog, missing an ear, and a blue bear?” Diego asked, glancing between the others. They couldn’t hear what she was saying, he knew that, but he was pretty sure they could piece it together from that single question.

Vanya’s breath hitched. “Y - yeah. How did you know that?”

“We ran into them before. Vanya just… Stay where you are, okay? Give me the address, we’ll go pick you up.” He assured her.

“We?”

“I’ve got Klaus and F - “ No, that’s just freak her out more. He’d let her find out about Five when they got there. “And a few friends here with me. It’s a long story.”

She gave them the address - a small grocery store near her house - and Diego assured her once again that they’d be there soon. They hung up, and Diego’s stomach twisted in knots. She was too close, too exposed, somewhere too predictable. Going to a public place wasn’t a bad idea, but those two had already showed that they didn’t much care about being seen.

Vanya didn’t have training, she didn’t have powers.

If they had hardly stood a chance…

“We have to go. _Now_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Diego has to introduce Eudora to his mom with absolutely zero warning xD
> 
> I have a writing Tumblr now! Find me on [@rainwritings](http://rainwritings.tumblr.com) for sneak-peeks (no spoilers!), maybe some extra content, of if you just wanna scream about TUA with me. Oh, I also take requests!


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